Investigation on impeller radial force for double-suction centrifugal pump with staggered blade arrangement

In order to find the effects of blade arrangement on impeller radial force, a double-suction centrifugal pump with two impeller configurations is investigated by using CFD approach. The two impeller have same geometry, same blade number, and different blade arrangement. One is staggered impeller in which the blades are arranged with half of blade phase angle staggered in circular direction, another is traditional symmetrical impeller with symmetrical blade arrangement. Results show that the radial force vector diagram for symmetrical impeller is a hexagonal, while it is nearly a circle for staggered impeller. The staggered impeller results no radial force saltation which exists in symmetrical impeller. The blade passing frequency dominates the radial force fluctuation in symmetrical impeller, while this frequency is almost not existed in staggered impeller. The results indicate that staggered blade arrangement can significantly reduce radial force fluctuation in double-suction centrifugal pump.