Optimization of centrifugal pump

performance with various blade number

Cite as: AIP Conference Proceedings 2114, 020016 (2019); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5112400
Published Online: 26 June 2019

Subroto, and Marwan Effendy

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AIP Conference Proceedings 2114, 020016 (2019); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5112400 2114, 020016

© 2019 Author(s).
 Optimization of Centrifugal Pump Performance with
Various Blade Number
Subroto1 and Marwan Effendy2, a)
1,2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta, Surakarta, Indonesia.
a)
Corresponding author: Marwan.Effendy@ums.ac.id

Abstract. The present study evaluates an experimental study on performance of centrifugal pump. The experimental test
section consists of a single-stage centrifugal pump and impeller with various numbers of blade (5, 6 and 7 blades), which
is completed by the installation of pressure gauge and rotameter for collecting data of pressure and flow rate,
respectively. The operating speed of pump was varied at 1450, 2050, and 2750 revolution per minute (rpm). The effects
of different numbers of blade on the impeller and the performance of the centrifugal pump were investigated in terms of
head pump (H), hydraulic power (Phydraulic), and efficiency (η). The results clearly demonstrate a strong influence of the
rotational speed on the performance of centrifugal pump. All performance parameters tend to be sensitive against the
change in the rotational speed rather than the change in the number of blade. The flow rate of pump operation is a key
important role on the performance of head, power and efficiency. The use of impeller with various numbers of blade does
not contribute a significant effect on the performance of centrifugal pump.

INTRODUCTION
Rotodynamic pumps or also called centrifugal pumps are probably among the most often applied machinery
in industrial installation as well as in common life. It has been widely utilized in most industrial fields, such as
petroleum and chemical industry, aviation utilization, pharmaceutical industry, and metallurgy production, due to
modest design, broad capacity, great efficiency, smooth flow rate, easy operation and generous maintenance.
Due to the expansion of technology, such as in petrochemical industry, the ultra-high speed centrifugal pump is
gradually growth and considerably applied as a common device. It needs innovation to improve the performance of
centrifugal pump for energy saving.
Several literatures noted that the performance of centrifugal pump depends on some design parameters, i.e.,
impeller, volute and diffuser, which affect the characteristics of fluid flow inside the turbomachine system. The
design of impeller particularly comprises the quantity of blade, the setting of vane angle, and the width of blade.
Meanwhile, the main design parameters of volute include the diameter of base, width of volute, the vane setting
angle of volute tongue, and the throat area. In the volute section, the energy loss decreases significantly. The output
work of impeller escalates due to the minimized vane height at partial flow rate, and the reduced vane diffuser
height reduces the effect of rotor-stator interaction. In the diffuser zone, the loss of energy can be diminished by
reducing diffuser vane height at design flow point [1]. Other literatures noted that the overall performance largely
depends upon the geometrical parameters of the impeller which has various of blade number [2], blade wrap angle
[3], blade thickness, blade inlet angle β1 [4], and blade outlet/exit angle β2 [5][6]. The number of the blade of
impeller plays an important role in terms of high speed centrifugal pump head, efficiency and cavitation [7].
The complexity of the flow behaviour in centrifugal is highly influenced by the three-dimensional developed
structures, turbulence, and secondary streams including unsteadiness. Other papers noted that the flow behaviour of
turbomachinery is most likely related to the pump geometry [8], rotational speed [9][10], suction pressure, initial
liquid flow rate [3][4], and inlet gas volume fraction (IGVF) [11]. In general, the design of centrifugal pump is
based on empirical experience and analytical correlation, including the combination of model testing and
engineering experience in industry. Nowadays, a proper design requires a detailed view of the internal flow for

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design and off-design operating conditions. The complicated internal flow at the discharge section of impeller
emerges circumferential distortion due to the asymmetric shape of the spiral volute and tongue, mainly at off-design
operating points. The interplay of rotor-volute induces the emersion of dynamic impacts, which influence the overall
centrifugal performance. Non-uniform flow conditions and especially pressure fields tend to be unbalanced radial
growth. All these parameters play a very important role in pump performance and should be considered for pump
design requirements.
The losses of unsteady flow are strongly influenced by the interactions of impeller-volute, particularly at the off-
design condition. Prediction of pump performance in combination with the study of the complex internal flow via
the impeller has been developed to address an attractive research of flow behaviour in turbomachine, including
cavitation. Various researchers have considerably contributed to investigate the flow mechanisms inside the
centrifugal impellers with spiral volute and/or vane diffuser volute in order to attain a proper design of centrifugal
turbomachines with the highest achievement. Evaluation of the pump flow field, including both flow structures
inside the impeller and impeller-volute interaction, has been carried out experimentally and numerically [12].
However, the investigation of important manufacturing parameters which affect the performance of a pump is rarely
available in the open literature.
A recent experimental study has evaluated the pump characteristics on various blade outlet angles. It is one of
the notable design parameters of centrifugal pump, which affect the internal flow field and the overall pump
performance. It has a significant effect on both head pump and efficiency. The wide of blade exit angle increases a
comprehensive pump performance [5]. Previously, the blade inlet angle of a special impeller using turbine mode
from a centrifugal pump as a turbine was investigated experimentally and numerically. The blade inlet angle has a
clear effect on the performances of pump-as-turbine (PAT). Efficiency at the best-efficiency point (BEP) becomes
better in line with the increase in the blade inlet angle [4]. Pumps with larger wrap angles have wider area for high
efficiency and higher stability. Researchers [2] found that the performance of pump with seven blades produces the
highest head coefficient compared to the design with both five and six blades. Another research noted that the head
of a centrifugal pump could be improved by increasing the number of blade, and there is an optimal value for the
efficiency and characteristics of cavitation. In the present study, internal flow and pump performance with different
blade number were studied experimentally.

EXPERIMENTAL SETUP

Test Facility and Impeller Model

The physical design investigated in the present study is a single-stage centrifugal pump with various numbers of
blade, which includes pump outlet, inlet, impeller, and volute. In order to study the effect of the number of blade on
the performance of the centrifugal pump, three impellers with different numbers of blade were fabricated as shown
in Fig. 1. The main parameters of impellers are given in Table 1.

(a) The geometry of impeller (b) 5 blades. (c) 6 blades. (d) 7 blades.
FIGURE 1. The images of the laboratory pump with the three various centrifugal impellers.

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 TABLE 1. The main geometric parameters of impeller
Impeller Impeller Impeller
Dimension Symbol
A B C
Impeller inner diameter (mm) D1 30 30 30
Impeller outer diameter (mm) D2 72 72 72
Height (mm) 20 20 20
Thickness (mm) 4.5 4.5 4.5
0 0
Blade inlet angle β1 34 34 340
Blade outlet angle β2 440 440 440
Number of blade Z 5 6 7

The experimental test rig as in Fig. 2 allows an accurate measurement of the mass flow processed by
the centrifugal pump. The piping system is equipped with a switch valve that allows the use of a closed-
loop circuit. The flow rate is regulated by means of a throttle device.
Investigation of three blades was done in three different rotation speeds, ranging from 1450 - 2750
rpm. One-by-one of the impeller model, as demonstrated in Fig. 1, was tested to investigate its
performance. The flow rate of centrifugal pump was measured by flowmeter, which has an uncertainty of
±0.2% of the measured value. The model pump head was obtained using a pressure gauge with an
accuracy of ± 0.1% of the measured value. After measuring all parameters, the centrifugal pump’s head,
hydraulic power, and efficiency were calculated by equations 1, 2 and 3, respectively. Subsequently, the
performance curves were obtained.

FIGURE 2. The centrifugal pump test rig.

Measuring Technique and Data Processing

The present study focuses on investigation of three performance parameters, which involve head pump (H),
hydraulic power (Phydraulic), and efficiency (η), on various numbers of blade and pump operation. In centrifugal
pumps, all those parameter are commonly defined by equations 1) to 3). Once the discharge and suction pressure on
the pump test are obtained, the head pump is calculated by equation as follows:

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 P Pd  Ps
H .....................................................1)
J U .g
where, d is the discharge pressure at pump outlet (N/m2), s is the suction pressure at pump inlet (N/m2), ρ is the
fluid density (kg/m3), g is the gravity, and γ = ρg.
Hydraulic pump is formulated by equation as follows:
Phydraulic U.g.H .Q ...................................................2)
where, Q is the flow rate (m3/s).

The corresponding pump efficiency is defined as in:

U .g.H .Q
K ............................................................3)
Pshaft
where, Pshaft is the power of shaft (W).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Figure 3 indicates the head versus the capacity of centrifugal pump on various flow rates at three different
rotational speeds, i.e., 1450, 2050, and 2750 rpm. It has been recognized that the head pump decreases gradually in
line with the increase in flow rates. The head pump is more sensitive against the change of the rotational speed
rather than the change of the numbers of blade. It can be clearly seen that the increase in rotational speed causes a
significant increase in the head pump, whereas the variation of the numbers of blade gives a smooth influence
against the head pump. The use of impeller with seven blades contributes to increase a small gap of the head pump
rather than those of five and sx blades. In term of trend, this finding confirms the experimental and numerical study
carried out by [9], where the increase in rotational speed causes the change of head pump to be in higher level. The
increase of head pump is caused by the change of difference pressures between discharge and suction region on
various operational conditions, which is more noticeable for higher rotational speed. The suction pressure tends to
be higher in line with the increase in the pump capacity, while the discharge pressure tends to be lower in line with
the increase in the pump capacity.

FIGURE 3. The head pump.

Figure 4 gives the power versus the capacity of centrifugal pump on various flow rates at three different
rotational speeds as explained previously. It was found that the rotational speed causes a significant effect for raising
the power of pump. The power of pump increases rapidly by switching the rotational speed from low (1450 rpm) to

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high level (2750 rpm). The power of centrifugal pump with six blades could be maximized up to 44.87 W for the
rotational speed of 2750 rpm. The increase of power is more obvious when increasing the flow rates. In terms of the
use of blade number, the power of pump increases slightly for a higher blade number.

FIGURE 4. The power of pump.

Figure 5 shows the efficiency of centrifugal pump on various flow rates at three different rotational speeds.
Similar to the power pump, the efficiency tends to be more sensitive against the change in the rotational speed rather
than the change in the numbers of blade. The increase of rotational speed contributes to the improvement of the
pump performance as indicated by the level of efficiency with higher rotational speed. It is more noticeable at higher
flow rate. In the present study, the efficiency of centrifugal pump with six blades can be increased up to 26.99% for
the rotational speed of 2750 rpm. In contrast, the efficiency drops significantly when changing to the rotational
speed of 1450 rpm. It is agree well compared to research by [10].
In term of blade number variation, there is no significant difference when operating at lower flow rate. A slight
increase of pump efficiency is contributed by the use of seven blades, mainly for higher flow rate. It implies the
efficiency of centrifugal pump is not sensitive to the change in the numbers of blade. However, it would be more
effective for higher flow rate. This finding is consistent to a CFD prediction carried out by [2].

FIGURE 5. The efficiency of the pump.

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 CONCLUSION
In the present study, the effects of rotational speed and the number of blade on inner flow and the characteristics
of centrifugal pump have been investigated experimentally. It can be concluded that the performance of centrifugal
pump tends to be more sensitive against the change in the rotational speed rather than the change in the number of
blade. The flow rate of pump operation plays an important role to the performance of centrifugal pump. The use of
impeller with various numbers of blade does not contribute a significant effect on its performance.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support from Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta in this
research.

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