Hydrodynamic characteristics of a waterjet propulsion pump with front straight guide vane

ABSTRACT

This research proposes a front straight guide vane (FSGV) to suppress pre-rotation before the waterjet pump, forming a double guide vane (DGV) with the rear guide vane (RGV). To verify its effectiveness, the hydrodynamic characteristics are studied numerically. The simulated external characteristic curve is consistent with the experimental result. The parameter optimisation of FSGV is processed. The result shows that FSGV can improve the adverse inflow pattern significantly and is beneficial to the hydrodynamic characteristics, and the propulsion performance is improved significantly with the increasing blade length and the axial gap. In addition, when the rotating speed is less than 3.29 times the design rotating speed, the influence on the cavitation performance by the DGVs in the impeller can be ignorable. However, the cavitation grows worse if the rotating speed increases far outweighing the design rotating speed, at which the propulsion pump never operates.

KEYWORDS:

• Waterjet propulsion
• hydrodynamic characteristics
• front straight guide vane
• parameter optimization‌

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 52279091], Open Project Program of Engineering Research Center of High-efficiency and Energy-saving Large Axial Flow Pumping Station [grant number ECHEAP026], Jiangsu Province Science Foundation for Youths Postdoctoral Science Foundation [grant number BK20170507], Natural Science Foundation of the Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions [grant number 17KJD580003], Jiangsu Planned Projects for Postdoctoral Research Funds [grant number 1701189B], Jiangsu Province College Students Practical Innovation Training Program [grant number 202011117036Z] and Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD).