Numerical investigation of influence of the clocking effect on the unsteady pressure fluctuations and radial forces in the centrifugal pump with vaned diffuser

The relative position between the diffuser vane and the volute tongue (clocking effect) has a great effect on the performance of the single-stage centrifugal pump, which however, is often ignored by designers. In this paper, the influence of clocking effect on the unsteady pressure fluctuation in a centrifugal pump and on the radial force of impeller is investigated. The hydrodynamic performance of the centrifugal pump with vaned diffuser was experimentally measured. Numerical simulation based on the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) combined with the SST k-w turbulence model was used to obtain hydrodynamic performance of the centrifugal pump. The numerical results of the hydrodynamic performance were in agreement with the experimental data. The results show that the clocking effect has great influence on the pressure fluctuation and on the unsteady radial force imposed on the impeller. When the diffuser vane approaches the volute tongue, the pressure fluctuation intensity in volute is relatively lower. Meanwhile, relatively larger radial force on the impeller and the lower efficiency are obtained when the diffuser vane is near the volute tongue. Thus, it is suggested that the volute tongue should be located near the middle of two diffuser vanes to obtain better performance.