Structural Analysis, Material optimization using FEA

and Experimentation of Centrifugal Pump Impeller.

By
Iratkar Ghanshyam G.
Under the Guidance of
Prof. Gandigude A. U.

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Zeal Education Society’s Zeal College of Engineering and Research,
Pune.
Index
 Introduction
 Literature Survey
 Finite Element Analysis of Pump Impeller
 FEA Iterations with alternate materials
 Impeller Fabrication and Testing
 Test Data Comparison
 Conclusion
Introduction
An impeller is a rotating component of a centrifugal
pump, usually made of iron, steel, bronze, brass, aluminum or
plastic, which transfers energy from the motor that drives
the pump to the fluid being pumped by accelerating the fluid
outwards from the centre of rotation. The velocity achieved
by the impeller transfers into pressure when the outward
movement of the fluid is confined by the pump casing.

 Overall Efficiency of a centrifugal pump (ηo) = Mechanical

efficiency (ηm) × Volumetric efficiency (ηv). Overall
efficiency depends on both factors Hydraulic and Mechanical.
 Mechanical components – such as impeller weight and
structure generates a mechanical loss that reduces the power
transferred from the motor shaft to the pump or fan
impeller.
 Also strength of the pump reduces due to stress corrosion
problems in impeller which can be minimized using alternate
material having same/more strength.

 In this paper, A structural analysis on 3HP pump impeller

has been carried out to investigate the stresses, strains and
displacements of the impeller. Conventional MS material is
replaced with glass fiber composite material. After getting
safe results from analysis, model is fabricated and testing has
done on UTM.
 Literature Survey
Sr. No. Reference Remark
V. Jose Ananth Vino, et
1 Analysis of Impeller of Centrifugal Pump
al (2012)
A Syam Prasad, et al Static and Dynamic Analysis of a Centrifugal
2
(2013) Pump Impeller
Mr M. Sampathkumar, et Static analysis of centrifugal blowers using
3 al (2014) composite materials
Lahu P. Mhaskepatil, et Selection of Material for Wind Turbine Blade
4
al (2014) by Analytic Hierarchy Method

5 Ronald S. Miller CORROSION IN PUMPS

Problem Definition
 As the present centrifugal pump impeller is made up of
material MS, the weight of the impeller is high because of
material density. Pumps with higher rotating mass will have
higher inertia and therefore takes longer to spin down on the
power loss.

 Due to following conditions mechanical efficiency reduces

and power requirement of the pump increases.
 Non optimized size of the impeller
 Weight of the pump impeller
 Impeller axial forces acting on side walls and internal
blades
 Water head and pressure acting on impeller profile.
Objectives of Work
 The main objective of the project is to optimize the weight
of impeller. This can be done by replacing conventionally
used MS material with glass fiber composite material. For
this following objectives needs to be achieved:
 To study the selected existing centrifugal pump model
KDM 327S.
 To carryout meshing and analysis.
 To carryout material optimization using FEA
 Testing on fabricated model.
Methodology
Design of CAD model of
component

Analysis of existing component

Study of stress plot and

displacement

Study of alternate materials

Analysis of the component using

alternate materials

Study of analysis results

Comparison between results of and

suggesting the best solution

Experimental Testing
Tools Used
 CAD Software – CATIA V5 R19
 CAE software – Hypermesh 12.0, Ansys 13.
 Experimental testing – UTM
 3D CAD MODEL OF PUMP IMPELLER
 We are using KDM 327S
 Head H = 13m
 Q Discharge = 515LPM or 0.00858 m3/sec
 3 HP motor 2800 rpm

3D CAD model is prepared using CATIA Software

 Dimensions of a pump impeller are:
Douter = 216mm
Dshaft = 8mm
Dhub = 10mm
Deye = 53.8mm
Width = 13mm
No. of blade = 8 no.s
Width of blade = 12.5mm
β1 = 26.89°
β2 = 19.29°
Torque = 4.4Nm
Finite Element Analysis of Pump Impeller
 The Finite Element Analysis of the pump impeller with the
material has done using
1. Hypermesh 12.0
2. Ansys 13.

Tetra-hedral meshing on 3HP Constraints and forces applied

pump impeller on model in Hypermesh
Number of nodes: 9638 Boundary Condition
Number of elements: 28716 P = 127530 N/m2 = 0.127 N/mm2
Element size = 2 mm
 MATERIAL SELECTION BY APPLYING AN ANALYTIC
HIERARCHY PROCESS (AHP)

Density Strength Corrosion Availability Cost Priority Value Rank

MS 0.0692 0.3896 0.1769 0.4286 0.4233 0.3102 3

Aluminium 0.1908 0.3403 0.1372 0.4286 0.4233 0.3332 2

Glass fiber 0.7400 0.2701 0.6859 0.1429 0.1534 0.3563 1

The alternative having highest priority value shows that it is the

best material according to the desired criteria’s.
 Properties of the Material are as follows
Property Value Property Value
Young’s Modulus, E 2.1x105 MPa Young’s Modulus, E 68.9 GPa
Poisson’s Ratio ,ν 0.3 Poisson’s Ratio ,ν 0.33
Density, ρ 7850kg/m3 Density, ρ 2700 kg/m3
Yield Stress, σyield 250 MPa Yield Stress, σyield 214 MPa
Ultimate Tensile Stress, σuts 410 MPa Ultimate Tensile Stress, σuts 241 MPa
Material properties of Mild steel Material properties of aluminum alloy 6063
Property Value
E1 40300 MPa
E2 6210 MPa
E3 40300 MPa
Poisson’s Ratio ,ν 0.2
Gxy 3070 MPa
Gyz 2390 MPa
Gzx 1550 MPa
Density, ρ 1900 ton/mm3

Material properties of Glass fiber

 FEA results of the MS

Von-mises stress for pump impeller (MS) Displacement result for pump impeller (MS)

Stress value for pump impeller is 10.541 N/mm2.

Deformation for pump impeller is 0.0074 mm
 FEA results of the Aluminum alloy 6063

Von-mises stress for pump impeller Displacement result for pump impeller
(Aluminum Alloy) (Aluminum Alloy)
Stress value for pump impeller is 10.48 N/mm2.
Deformation for pump impeller is 0.023 mm
 FEA results of the Glass fiber

Von-mises stress for pump impeller Displacement result for pump impeller
(Glass fiber) (Glass fiber)
Stress value for pump impeller is 17.083 N/mm2.
Deformation for pump impeller is 0.149 mm
 Comparison of FEA results

Sr.No. Material Max. Stress Max. Displacement Weight (Kg)

1. Steel 10.541 MPa 0.007 mm 3.09

2. Aluminum Alloy 6063 10.48 MPa 0.023 mm 1.06

3. Glass Fiber 17.08 MPa 0.149 mm 0.75

From analysis results and comparison of properties of all the analysis, it is observed
that all the materials have stress values less than their respective permissible yield
stress values.

Therefore glass fiber is the best suited material which is having the least weight.
 Also FEA has done considering load on Single Blade of 0.12
N/mm2

Applied loads and boundary conditions (Single Blade)

Applied loads and boundary conditions (Single Blade)

Sr. No. Material Max. Stress Max. Displacement Weight (Kg)

1. Steel 1.37 MPa 0.00117 mm 3.09

2. Aluminum Alloy 6063 1.04 MPa 0.00358 mm 1.05

3. Glass Fiber 2.75 MPa 0.0346 mm 0.75

Impeller Fabrication & Testing
Pump Impeller made up of Glass-fiber (E-Glass/Epoxy)
 Universal testing machine is used to test the Impeller.
UTM machine is also known as universal tester, is used to
test tensile and compressive strength of the materials.

Testing Setup
Test Data Comparison
Comparison of FEA results for pressure of 0.12N/mm2 on single blade

Sr. No. Material Max. Stress Max. Displacement Weight (Kg)

1. Steel 1.37 MPa 0.00117 mm 3.09

2. Aluminum Alloy 6063 1.04 MPa 0.00358 mm 1.05

3. Glass Fiber 2.75 MPa 0.0346 mm 0.75

Comparison of Experimental and FEA results for pressure of 0.12 N/mm2 on single blade for
Glass Fiber specimen

Sr. No. Type of Analysis Max. Displacement % Error

1. FEA 0.0346 mm
5.88
2. Experimental 0.032 mm
Conclusion
It is observed form FEA that all the materials have
stress values less than their respective permissible stress
values.
From the comparison of FEA and experimental testing
results it is observed that glass fiber is the material which is
having the less weight (0.75 Kg), good strength and non
corrosive properties it is best suited alternate material for
pump impeller and is expected to perform better with
satisfying amount of weight reduction (0.75).
Future Scope
The present work has done on static analysis and
experimental testing on UTM of centrifugal impeller in order
to optimize the weight & enhance strength of the blower,
also this work provides solution to the corrosion problem by
suggesting alternative material i.e. Glass Fiber.
In future there is scope of

 Harmonic/MODAL and transient analysis.

 CFD analysis of the centrifugal impeller, using CFD
simulation tool in order to increase performance of the given
centrifugal Impeller
Thank You