A STUDY OF CFD SIMULATIONS OF THE FLOW PATTERN IN AN AGITATED SYSTEM WITH A PITCHED BLADE WORN TURBINE

This paper presents a numerical analysis of an agitated fully baffled cylindrical vessel with a down pumping four blade worn or unworn pitched blade impeller (alpha = 45 degrees and 30 degrees) under a turbulent flow regime. CFD simulations predict the pumping capacity of the system equipped by worn and unworn pitched blade impeller. Experimental data were taken from the authors' previous work and compared with results of numerical computations. A good agreement with experimental data was obtained. The ensemble-average mean velocity field with worn and unworn impellers was computed. It follows from the simulation results that the wear rate of the impeller blade has a significantly negative effect on the velocity distribution in an agitated liquid. The greater the destruction of the worn blade, the higher is the deformation of the velocity field around the rotating impeller, with a simultaneous decrease in impeller pumping capacity.