Effect of Absolute Flow Angle at the Inlet of Axial Pump on the Slopes of Performance Curve and Unstable Flow Phenomena in Low Flow Rates

In this study, a numerical analysis was performed by assigning an absolute flow angle to the pump inlet to predict the rotational flow of the variable inlet guide vane trailing edge. The effect of the absolute flow angle of the pump inlet on the slope of the performance curve and the unstable flow phenomenon at the low flow rate was analyzed. Further, the finite volume method based on the three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations was employed to discretize the governing equations. It was confirmed from the results of the internal flow field analysis that and unstable flow phenomenon occurred regardless of the change in the flow angle of the pump inlet. Through analysis of the fast fourier transform results. It was confirmed that as the inlet flow angle increased from 0° to 45°, the pump could be operated more stably at low flow rates compared to 0°.