MINIMIZING BLADE-FLUID ENERGY LOSSES IN CENTRIFUGAL HYDRAULIC PUMP IMPELLERS

This paper examines the reduction of energy losses in the blade-fluid interaction by applying the methods of computational fluid dynamics in combination with the heuristic optimization methods, specifically the evolutionary algorithm based on the criterion of increasing the mechanical efficiency with the restriction of maintaining the pumping height of the fluid. The methods presented in the work were applied under the condition of maintaining the continuity of the curve line of the profile on the entire length of the blade included between its leading and trailing edge. The solutions used to create the profile of the blades were exposed, which led to the reduction of the energy losses in the blade-fluid interaction, to the increase of the hydraulic efficiency of the impeller from 56% to 61% and to the increase of the pump's mechanical efficiency by 3.2%.