Analysis of the Bubble Diameter Effect on the Gas-liquid Flow Characteristics of a Multiphase Rotodynamic Pump

In order to study the effect of bubble diameter on the gas-liquid flow in the multiphase rotodynamic pump, steady simulations with different bubble diameters were conducted using ANSYS CFX17.0. When the inlet gas content IGVF is 10%, the pump head and efficiency decrease with the increased inlet bubble diameters, and there are different downward trends at different stages of bubble diameter increase. The pump head and efficiency with small bubble diameter (d≤0.3 mm) are much higher than those of large bubble diameter(d≥0.4 mm). A small amount of gas accumulates on both the blade suction and pressure surfaces near the hub under conditions of small bubble diameters. When the bubble diameter is large, A large amount of gas accumulates on the blade suction surface, and almost no gas accumulates on the blade pressure surface. Due to the density difference between gas and liquid phases, gas accumulates near the hub. The gas content rapidly decreases when away from the hub under small bubble diameter conditions, resulting in good gas-liquid fluidity and weak gas-liquid separation.