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The flow field in a shrouded six-bladed centrifugal pump impeller has been investigated using large eddy simulation (LES). The effect of the subgrid scales has been modeled through a localized dynamic Smagorinsky model implemented in the commercial CFD code FINE/Turbo. A detailed analysis of the results of LES at design load, Q=Qd, and severe off-design conditions, at quarter-load Q=0.25Qd, is presented. At design load LES reveals a well-behaved flow field with no significant separation. At quarter-load significant differences between adjacent impeller passages are revealed. A steady nonrotating stall phenomenon is observed in the entrance of one passage and a relative eddy develops in the remaining part of the passage. The stall unblocks the adjacent passage which exhibits a flow dominated by rotational effects. Velocities predicted by LES and steady-state Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations based on the Baldwin-Lomax and Chien k-ε turbulence models are compared with experimental data obtained from particle image velocimetry (PIV). The complex two-channel phenomena observed by LES is with satisfactory agreement confirmed by PIV. However, it is found that the two RANS models do not reproduce the stall phenomenon observed at quarterload and are incapable of detecting the differences between the two passages.
Byskov et al. (2003) studied this question.