Numerical simulations and surrogate-based optimization of cavitation performance for an aviation fuel pump

We used computational modeling to investigate the cavitation performance of an aviation fuel pump, and optimize structural parameters using the surrogate-based method. In the numerical simulation, a rotation-curvature correction was adapted to the k-epsilon turbulence model, and a four-component surrogate fuel was selected to reproduce the physical properties of the China RP-3 kerosene. Then the performance of the aviation fuel pump was predicted. In the optimization, based on the series of the numerical results, Surrogate-based analysis and optimization (SBAO) was used to optimize the structural parameters of the fuel pump (the variation of the outlet blade angle for the inducer a-(3)beta (b1) and the variation of the inlet blade angle for the impeller a-(3)beta (b2)). The results show that the prediction of cavitation performance agrees well with the experimental data. The results show that cavitation areas are mainly distributed in the inlet of the inducer. The volume of cavities grows with the decreasing NPSHa. The head of the fuel pump has a sudden head-drop when NPSHa 5.64 m. Furthermore, the surrogate-based approach is available in structural optimization of the fuel pump. The cavitation performance of the optimized pump improved about 22 % with a little drop of head coefficient when a-(3)beta (b1) = 4.33A degrees and a-(3)beta (b2) = 3.24A degrees. The numerical approach employed in this paper can accurately predict the cavitating flow of the high rotating speed fuel pump and the surrogate-based method is available in the structural optimization for a better cavitation performance.