Transient behavior of a centrifugal pump during starting period

A theoretical analysis on transient flow inside a centrifugal pump was carried out, building on unsteady and incompressible fluid equations applied to the impeller during the starting periods. The transient flow behavior is governed by two hyperbolic partial differential equations; namely continuity and motion equations. The characteristics method of the specified time intervals was used to analyze the dynamic characteristic of the pump. To follow the dynamic behavior of the pump during startup periods, a numerical study was performed on the pump impeller with different openings of the discharge valve. The comparison between the numerical and experimental results of the pump characteristic curve has shown a good concordance. The results have also revealed that the pressure increase is important in the case of a short starting period of the pump and a large mass of water in the pipelines. In this study, the effect of the impeller diameter and number of blades on the pressure evolution was also analyzed.