Numerical and Experimental Investigations on the Acoustic Characteristics of a Single-Stage Centrifugal Pump

The acoustic properties of a single-stage centrifugal pump with low specific speed are investigated by means of compressible 3D CFD simulations (URANS) and experiments. In order to determine the pump’s acoustic transmission and excitation characteristics, a four-pole approach in the frequency domain is used. The transmission parameters determined by simulation are compared to experiments in water and air as functions of the Helmholtz number. The results indicate that the acoustic transmission characteristics within the experiments are significantly influenced by the structural compliance of the volute casing in terms of a fluid–structure interaction (FSI). A modelling approach for a one-dimensional representation of the centrifugal pump’s acoustic transmission characteristics in the time and frequency domains is applied to the current pump. As one model parameter, the effective speed of sound in the 1D model needs to be reduced to 607 ms−1 to account for the FSI. The agreement of the simulation results and the experiments underlines the above statement about the influence of the FSI. In a last step, the acoustic excitation parameter, depicted as monopole and dipole amplitudes, at two different blade-passing frequencies (fBP≈111;169 Hz) are determined for several operating points. Especially for dipole amplitudes, a good agreement between experiments and simulations can be seen. The monopole amplitudes are also of similar orders of magnitude, but show stronger deviations. The cause of discrepancies between the 3D CFD simulations and experiments is believed to be the neglected influence of the FSI and surface roughness as well as the inaccurate reproduction of flow separation at the volute’s tongue due to the use of wall functions. A final important observation made during the numerical investigations is that the excitation mechanisms at the blade-passing frequency are probably independent of the piping system’s acoustic impedance.