Research Article

Advances in Mechanical Engineering

2019, Vol. 11(6) 1–8
Ó The Author(s) 2019
A new design way for cylindrical blades DOI: 10.1177/1687814019830174
journals.sagepub.com/home/ade
with adjustable inlet blade angles

Jing Yan , Xiaobing Liu, Li Peng and Jianan Li

Abstract
A new approach for cylindrical blade design is presented in this article. Authors of this article analyzed the main reasons
which are responsible for the low efficiency of untwisted blades and found out that the shock losses along the blade
leading edge are much higher than those of twisted blades. Furthermore, based on the analysis, this article proposed a
new design approach that is different from the traditional one. This new approach can reduce hydraulic losses at blade
leading edge and improve performance and efficiency of cylindrical blades. In the traditional design process, to draw
blade projection in plan view, an incidence at intersection of blade leading edge and inner streamline on the meridional
section is selected for calculating blade inlet angle accurately. Because the incidence and the blade inlet angle at the inter-
section of blade leading edge and outer streamline are formed automatically, the blade inlet angles at this point are not
suitable for oncoming flow direction, generating noticeable shock losses at this place. In the new design program, blade
inlet angles at both intersection points formed by blade leading edge and the outer, inner streamlines are accurately cal-
culated. This makes the shock losses generated by blade leading edge be minimized. Moreover, in conventional design,
the projection of blade pressure side into plan view consists of only one plane curve. In the new design way, projection
of blade surface in plan view is composed of two curves joined smoothly and continuously. Two impellers with funda-
mentally identical geometrical parameters were designed and manufactured, and the only difference is that their cylindri-
cal blades were calculated and configured by applying a traditional design method or a the new approach. Test findings
from an open loop indicate that in a wide load range from 0.8 to 1.2 times design flow rate, both head and efficiency of
the new pump were raised. Over the operating range, efficiency of the new pump increased by 0.5% to 2.7%.
Particularly, for higher flow rate, pump performance was improved significantly, and the increase of efficiency at pump
design point arrived at 2.7%. The results suggest that the new approach presented in this article offers an effective and
useful means to improve performance of low specific speed pumps.

Keywords
Low specific speed pump, impeller, cylindrical blade, design, calculation

Date received: 22 November 2017; accepted: 21 January 2019

Handling Editor: Jose Ramon Serrano

Introduction
Cylindrical blade is a fundamental blade form applied
to low specific speed impellers. Its hydraulic perfor-
mance is basically determined by the blade geometry.
A large body of literature has reported the methods to
reduce hydraulic losses incurred by the blades. JF
Gülich1 and Lobanoff2 proposed guidelines to establish
blade geometrical parameters for impellers of different
Key Laboratory of Fluid and Power Machinery, Ministry of Education,
School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xihua University, Chengdu,
China
Corresponding author:
Jing Yan, Key Laboratory of Fluid and Power Machinery, Ministry of
Education, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xihua University,
Chengdu 610039, China.
Email: jingyan16@aliyun.com

Creative Commons CC BY: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
(http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without
further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/
open-access-at-sage).
2 Advances in Mechanical Engineering
specific speeds and described detailed procedures to
configure single circular arcs as the projection of
untwisted blades in plan view. For widening high effi-
ciency load range of a low specific speed pump, J Pei
et al.3 selected different magnitudes of blade outlet
width, blade outlet angles, and blade wrap angles to
configure several impellers and compared their perfor-
mance. DS Zhang et al.4 simulated the flow field within
10 low specific speed impellers and proposed solutions
to improve their efficiencies. B Jafarzadeh et al.5 pre-
sented a general three-dimensional simulation of turbu-
lent fluid flow for a low specific speed impeller and
investigated effects on pump best efficiency of blade
number and position of blades with respect to volute
cutwater. T Wang6 simulated the turbulent flow in the
waterways of a low specific speed impeller and discov-
ered the differences of flow behaviors at pump design
point and off-design conditions. E Dick7 offered a
number of empirical formulas to estimate hydraulic
losses generated in different locations within a centrifu-
gal impeller. Authors of this article derived polar coor-
dinate equations for some plane special curves suitable
for projections of cylindrical blade surfaces.8–11 They
also proposed a new kind of cylindrical blade and its
wrap angle can be specified by designers to meet
requirements, while this important geometrical para-
meter is decided by blade inlet and outlet boundary
conditions in other design principles.12 These publica-
tions have all contributed to the improvement in blade
performance.
Advanced design approaches and ideas are the bases
to develop products of high performance. Published
data have shown that when other geometries remain
unchanged, the efficiencies of impellers with cylindrical
blades are lower than those of pumps with twisted
blades, and at design flow rate, the difference can reach
2.5%. The reduction in efficiency arises from the tradi-
tional design principles and methods related to cylindri-
cal blades. This article will present a new design
approach for untwisted blades and discuss the sources
of hydraulic losses. This new approach is different from
the traditional methods in the calculating process and
could become a new design tool for blade designers.
Conventional design way for cylindrical
blades and outlines of hydraulic losses
generated in blades
The geometrical structure of a cylindrical blade is
decided by its meridional section and plan view in a
plane perpendicular to the impeller axis. These two
views can determine not only the blade shape, but also
its hydraulic performance. In the conventional blade
design practice, the blade drawing procedures are as
follows:13,14 based on the main blade geometrical
Figure 1. Two views of pressure side of a cylindrical blade.
parameters established previously, the meridional sec-
tion of the blade was drawn with blade leading edge, as
shown in Figure 1. In the plan view, projections of the
two intersections between blade pressure side, impeller
front and rear shrouds, projection of blade pressure
side itself are three overlapped plane curves. The pro-
jections corresponding to the twisted blade do not show
such features. As the intersection between blade pres-
sure side and impeller rear shroud has the maximum
wrap angle, in the traditional cylindrical blade design
practice, to draw the blade pressure side in the plan
view is actually to draw the projection of the intersec-
tion. Thickening the plane curve described above in
accordance with design guidelines yields the another
plane curve which represents the projection of blade
suction side in the plan view. To draw the projection of
the intersection between the blade pressure side and the
rear shroud, the geometrical parameters of intersection,
and only these parameters, must be applied. These
include radius RB at point B, which is the intersection
point of the blade leading edge and the rear shroud, the
blade outlet radius R2, which is also the impeller radius,
the blade angle b2 at the intersection outlet RB, R2 and
b2 are unchanged in the plan view. The projected angle
b1B(t) of the blade angle b1B at point B is also used. In
the plan view, the projected curve must satisfy the fol-
lowing boundary conditions. The plane curve lies
between two concentrical circles with radii of R2 and
RB. At the intersection points of the plane curve and
two circles, two angles between the tangential directions
of the curve and peripheral directions of circles are b2
and b1B(t). The projection of blade pressure side in the
plan view is illustrated in Figure 1.
An important idea involved in the traditional
untwisted blade design process is that, in the plan view,
the projection of the intersection line formed by the
blade pressure side and the rear shroud is applied to
represent the blade pressure side. In the design process,
in order to draw the blade pressure side in the plan
view, the blade angle b1B at point B, the intersection
point of the blade leading edge and the rear shroud,
Yan et al. 3

must be calculated first. Also, its projected value b1B(t)

must be achieved. As a result, the blade angle at point
B of the accomplished blade can match the approach
flow at the design point, and no shock losses are
incurred here. However, the blade angle at point A, the
intersection of the blade leading edge and the front
shroud, is formed naturally and its value is unknown
during the design. As a result, when impeller operates
at the design point, blade angles at point A and its
neighboring parts along the blade leading edge are not
suitable for the oncoming flow. The incidences, which
denote the difference between the blade inlet angle and
the flow angle, cannot meet the required flow condi-
tions. Notable shock losses are generated along the
blade leading edge as flow separation frequently occurs
here, causing energy dissipation eddies.15 However, the
blade inlet angles along the blade leading edge of
twisted blades have the same directions as the oncoming
flow, and shock losses are thus reduced significantly.
This is the main reason why hydraulic efficiencies of
cylindrical blade are lower than those of twisted blades. Figure 2. Blade meridional section.
In addition, the blade suction side near point A is a
region of low pressure. Excessive shock losses at this
point reduce water pressure further, making cavitation experience. Measure the distances RA and RB,
bubbles more likely occur. The higher the specific speed from points A and B to the impeller axis. In gen-
of an impeller, the broader the impeller passages will eral, there should be RA > RB, as illustrated in
be, and the effects of undesired incidences are more Figure 2.
remarkable. This is also the reason why applications of 2. Specify the two blade incidences DbA and DbB
cylindrical blades are limited for medium and high spe- at points A and B. In terms of given design flow
cific speed impellers. rate, impeller rotative speed, and incidences, cal-
culate the blade inlet angles b1A and b1B by trial
and error. When the pump operates at the
New design principles and approaches for design point, the differences of the blade angles
cylindrical blades and relative flow angles will be equal to the
given incidences at points A and B. This
In order to increase the efficiency of cylindrical blades approach is different from the traditional design
and minimize hydraulic losses caused by the blade lead- practice for cylindrical blades, where incidence
ing edge, this article will present a new design approach at point A is not given, and blade angle is not
for the cylindrical blade. In the new program, blade calculated at this point. Consequently, the blade
incidences at the two intersection points formed by the angle and the incidence at point A are estab-
blade leading edge and the two impeller shrouds will be lished randomly, both of which are unknown
determined by designers. before and even after the impeller is made. This
In order to achieve the expected results mentioned is a key difference between the conventional
above, the following design procedures should be fol- and new design methods.
lowed for calculating and drawing the untwisted blades: 3. Measure angles lA, lB between the two horizon-
tal lines passing through points A, B and two
1. Based on the main blade geometrical parameters tangents to the front and rear shroud in the
established previously, draw the blade meridio- blade meridional section as shown in Figure 2.
nal section. Modifications may be necessary The purpose of the measurements is to
until a satisfactory section is achieved. The para- decide the projected angles b1A(t) and b1B(t) of
meters include impeller radius R2, blade outlet blade inlet angles b1A, b1B. Both projected
width B2, and impeller eye radius R0. Next draw angles in the plan view are smaller than blade
the blade leading edge AB in the accomplished angles
meridional section following guidelines and
4 Advances in Mechanical Engineering

b1A ðtÞ = arctanðtan b1A 3 sin lA Þ

ð1Þ
b1B ðtÞ = arctanðtan b1B 3 sin lB Þ

4. There are significant differences between the

new approach presented in this article and the
traditional one about drawing the projected
curve of the blade pressure side in plan views.
As stated in previous sections, in the traditional
way, the actual drawing process consists of
drawing a projected curve of the intersection of
blade pressure side and rear shroud in the plan
view, while in the new way, the projection of the
blade pressure side itself will be drawn.
Assume a straight line passing through point A Figure 3. An equal changeable angle logarithmic curve at inlet
of blade pressure side projection.
in Figure 2, which is parallel to the impeller
axis. This line represents a cylindrical surface
with radius RA and is concentrical with the
impeller axis. This cylindrical surface divides where u1 denotes the wrap angle of the plane curve,
the blade pressure side into two surfaces, and which can be found by application of the following
their projections in the plan view should be equation
drawn separately. In the plan view, the projec-
lnðRA =RB Þ
tion of blade surface, two projected curves of u1 = ðb ðtÞ  b1B ðtÞÞ ð3Þ
intersections between the blade pressure side, lnðcos b1B ðtÞ=cos b1A ðtÞÞ 1A
impeller front and rear shrouds are three over-
Since b1B(t), b1A(t), RA, and RB are established pre-
lapped plane curves. To draw the projections of
viously, wrap angle u1 can thus be obtained using equa-
the upper and lower blade pressure sides in the
tion (3). Substituting u1 into equation (2) and giving a
plan view means to draw the intersections
series of u values in the range from 0° to u1 yield the
formed by the two blade surfaces, impeller front
corresponding values of r in equation (2). Plot a curve
and rear shrouds. Draw three concentrical circles
passing all points determined by their coordinates (r, u)
with radii R2, RA, and RB, where R2 > RA > RB
in the plan view, as shown in Figure 3.
(in the traditional design process, circle RA is
Equal changeable angle logarithmic curve offers a
neglected). The projections of two blade pressure
notable advantage. Along the curve, angle b, which is
side portions in the plan view should be configured
defined as the angle between the tangent to the curve
between circles R2, RA and circles RA, RB.
and the circumferential direction at the same point on
5. Draw a projected plane curve between circle RA
and circle RB in the plan view which represents the curve, will vary with u, and when u varies from 0°
the projection of the lower portion of blade to u1, b varies from b1B(t) to b1A(t) linearly. This con-
pressure side. Actually, this drawing process clusion can be shown as follows. It is well known that
involves drawing the projection of intersection at a given point on a curve, angle b, the radius r of the
of the lower blade pressure side and rear shroud. point, and its derivative dr=du meet the following
The plane curve must satisfy the following correlation
boundary conditions. The radii at the two end
dr
points of the curve should be equal to RA and tan b = ð4Þ
RB. At these two points, the plane angles rdu
between tangents to the curve and circumferen- Performing logarithmic calculation for both sides of
tial directions are equal to b1A(t) and b1B(t). It equation (2) gives
is recommended that an equal changeable angle
logarithmic curve should be applied with the f1
following polar coordinate equation ln RB + ( ln ( cos b1B (t))
b1A (t)  b1B (t)
  
b (t)  b1B (t)
 ln cos 1A u + b1B (t)
0 1u1 =ðb1A ðtÞb1B ðtÞÞ f1
cos b1B ðtÞ
r = RB @  A As both sides of the equation above are functions of
b1A ðtÞb1B ðtÞ
cos u u + b1B ðtÞ u, differentiating both sides with respect to u yields
1

ð2Þ
Yan et al. 5

1 dr u1
=
r du b1A ðtÞ  b1B ðtÞ
0   1
 sin b1A ðtÞb
u1
1B ðtÞ
u + b1B ðtÞ b ð t Þ  b ð t Þ
@   3 1A 1B A
cos b1A ðtÞb 1B ðtÞ
u + b ð t Þ u1
u1 1B
 
b1A ðtÞ  b1B ðtÞ
= tan u + b1B ðtÞ
u1

Combing the equation above with equation (4) gives

 
b1A ðtÞ  b1B ðtÞ
tan b = tan u + b1B ðtÞ
u1 Figure 4. Hermite interpolating curve at outlet of blade
pressure side projection.
that is

b1A ðtÞ  b1B ðtÞ

b= u + b1B ðtÞ ð5Þ Table 1. Relationship between zu and NS.
u1
NS 35–50 55–70 80–120 130–220 230–280
Equation (5) indicates that when u increases from 0° zu/360° 2.1–2.3 1.9–2.1 1.7–1.9 1.5–1.8 1.4–1.65
to u1 , b will increase from b1B(t) to b1A(t) linearly.
When projective effects are taken into account, the
actual blade inlet angle will vary from b1B at the rear
shroud to b1A at the front shroud continuously and 6. Draw a projected curve between circle RA and
monotonically. This is the expected distribution of circle R2 in the plan view, which represents the
blade inlet angles along blade leading edge. projection of the upper portion of the blade
In addition, equation (2) implies that when u = 0, pressure side in plane. Actually, this drawing
r = RB , and when u = u1 , value of r will be process involves drawing the plane projection of
 u1 =ðb1A ðtÞb1B ðtÞÞ the intersection of the upper blade pressure side
cos b1B ðtÞ and the front shroud. The plane curve must sat-
r = RB
cos b1A ðtÞ isfy the following boundary conditions: the
radii at the two end points of the curve equal
Logarithmical calculation of the expression above RA and R2. At these two points, the plane
gives angles between tangents to the curve and cir-
cumferential directions are b1A(t) and b2. It is
u1 cos b1B ðtÞ recommended that a Hermite interpolating
ln r = ln RB + ln
b1A ðtÞ  b1B ðtÞ cos b1A ðtÞ function should be applied to configure the
Substituting equation (3) into the above equation plane curve, as shown in Figure 4. This curve
gives can pass through all fixed points in a plane,
and directions of tangents to these points on
1 lnðRA =RB Þ the curve can be given. In addition, the wrap
ln r = ln RB + 3 angle of the curve can be specified based on
b1A ðtÞ  b1B ðtÞ lnðcos b1B ðtÞ=cos b1A ðtÞÞ
cos b1B ðtÞ requirements.
ðb1A ðtÞ  b1B ðtÞÞ 3 ln
cos b1A ðtÞ
= ln RB + ln RA  ln RB Based on the statistical data, the product of blade
= ln RA number z, blade warp anglepffiffiffiu,ffi and impeller specific
speed NS (where NS = 3:65n Q=H 3=4 ; n: impeller rota-
that is, when u = u1 , r = RA . tive speed (r/min), Q: design flow rate (m3/s), H:
The analysis presented above shows that the plane design head (m) should satisfy the relationship in
curve determined by equation (2) satisfies all given Table 1.16
boundary conditions, and the plane angle b variations For z and NS are determined previously, the com-
along blade leading edge are desirable. It is safe to say plete blade wrap angle u can be achieved based on
that the hydraulic performance of the new cylindrical Table 1. The wrap angle u2 of Hermite interpolating
blades is preferable to the traditional blades where the curve is u  u1 evidently. Therefore, the Hermite inter-
blade angle is controlled only at one point. polating function is obtained17
6 Advances in Mechanical Engineering

Figure 6. Comparison of original and new projection of blade

pressure side.

view, as shown in Figure 5. At the intersection point of

the two curves, the radii of both curves are RA, and the
angle between the tangent to combined curves and cir-
Figure 5. Projection of blade pressure side into plan view. cumferential direction is the same value as b1A(t), which
means that at the intersection point the connected curve
is continuous and smooth. Follow the design guidelines
   to thicken the completed plane curve to configure the
2u u  u2 2
r = RA 1+ blade suction side, and accomplish blade drawing in
u2 u2
  2 plan view.
2 ðu  u 2 Þ u Based on the principles and design process described
+ R2 1 
u2 u2 in this article, authors of the paper modified untwisted
 ! ð6Þ blades for a low specific speed impeller (QVX50-26).
u  u2 2
+ RA tan b1A ðtÞ u At the design point, the flow parameters of the pump
u2
are as follows: head H = 91 m, flow rate Q = 65 m3 =h,
 2 !
u rotative speed n = 2950 r=min, and the specific speed
+ R2 tan b2 ðu  u2 Þ NS of pump is 48.
u2
The new design did not change the basic dimensions
Obviously, dr=du can be derived from equation (6) or the meridional section of the impeller, but the projec-
tions of the new and original blade pressure sides in the
 
plan view are different, as shown in Figure 6.
dr 2RA ðu  u2 Þ2 + ðu2 + 2uÞðu  u2 Þ
= The new blades have the same blade outlet angle
du u32 and inlet angle at the intersection point of the blade
 
+ R2 6uu2  6u =u322 ð7Þ leading edge and the rear shroud as the original blades.
  The exact blade inlet angle and its projected value at
+ RA tan b1A ðtÞ 3u2 + u22  4uu2 =u22 the intersection point of the blade leading edge and the
 
+ R2 tan b2 3u2  2uu2 =u22 front shroud are calculated, while these two angles are
neglected in the original design. The projection of the
It can be shown that the curve defined by equation blade pressure side in the plan view is configured by
(6) satisfies all the given boundary conditions. When joining two curves mentioned above. After the impeller
u = 08 and u = u2 , equation (6) gives r = RA and with five cylindrical blades was designed, tests for the
r = R2 . When u = 08 and u = u2 , equation (7) gives performance characteristics were done in an open test-
dr=du = RA tan b1A (t) and dr=du = R2 tan b2 ; further- ing loop located in a pump company. The test stand
more, equation (4) shows that at two end points of the with accuracy of Grade 2 was designed and installed by
plane curve, angle b equals given b1A(t) and b2. the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Mechanization.
With b1A(t), b2, RA, and R2 in equation (6) estab- The instruments used in the loop can briefly be
lished previously, specify a series values for u in the described as follows. The flow rates through the system
range from 0° to u2 and calculate the corresponding were measured by application of a magnetic flow meter.
values of r in equation (6). Plot a curve passing through The head was calculated based on readings of a pres-
all points determined by their coordinates (r, u) in the sure transmitter. Rotative speed and torque exerted on
plan view, as shown in Figure 4. the pump shaft were obtained by a tacho-torquemeter
Connecting the two curves of equal changeable loga- which joined pump shaft and motor shaft. A regulating
rithmic curve and Hermite interpolating curve to form valve was mounted at pump outlet side. Flow rates
the projection of the blade pressure side in the plan passing through the pump were adjusted by changing
Yan et al. 7

Table 2. Comparison of test data.

Flow rate (m3/h) 51.75 65.3 78.3

Head (original/new) 110.2/111.0 90.0/91.5 79.2/79.3
Efficiency (original/new) 0.62/0.63 0.66/0.678 0.61/0.62

opening of the valve. When a three-phase motor was

started at nominal rotative speed, set the flow rate pass-
ing through the pump at normal flow rate (65.3 m3/h).
The head and torque exerted on pump shaft were mea-
sured simultaneously. The product of impeller angular
rotative speed based on pump rotating speed and tor-
que was defined as the shaft power, while the product
of flow rate, head, and specific gravity of water is
known as useful power. The pump efficiency at this
flow rate is equal to the ratio of useful power to shaft
power. All measured values were recorded and trans-
ferred to a computer. The operating process was iter-
ated over the range between 0.8 times of design flow
rate to 1.2 times of design flow rate under eight desig-
nated working conditions. For the values obtained
under these working conditions, the computer calcu-
lated and displayed the heads and efficiencies automati-
cally, as shown in Table 2. Based on Table 2, it can be
seen that when the wrap angle of the new blades
remains unchanged, the heads and efficiencies are
noticeably improved in a wide load range, and the effi-
ciency increase at pump design point reaches 2.7%.
Enlarged Figure 6 shows that in the original design, the
blade angle at the intersection point of the blade lead-
ing edge and the front shroud is excessively large, mak-
ing the incidence at this point exceeds the expected
value significantly. The impressive shock losses at this
point and its vicinity along the leading edge brought
about the lowered efficiency of the original impeller.
A 3D blade newly constructed is illustrated in
Figure 7
Conclusion
This article offers a new approach for cylindrical blade
calculating and drawing. The new design way presented
in this article is characterized by the following features
which are different from those involved in the tradi-
tional approach:
1. For the untwisted blade designed by the tradi-
tional method, only the blade inlet angle at the
intersection point of the blade leading edge and
the rear shroud, as well as the incidence, is cal-
culated, while the blade inlet angle at the inter-
section point of the blade leading edge and the
front shroud is formed randomly, where the
Figure 7. A 3D blade newly constructed.
incidence cannot be controlled. Consequently,
at this point and its neighborhood, the blade
angles cannot match the approach flow direc-
tions. Shock and separation losses generated
here become the main reason why the hydraulic
efficiency of cylindrical blades is lower than that
of the twisted blades. In this article, at the two
intersection points of the blade leading edge and
the impeller front and rear shrouds, the calcu-
lated blade angles create specified incidences. As
a result, the improved blade inlet angle distribu-
tion along the leading edge reduces the hydrau-
lic losses and the risk of cavitation initiation,
which optimizes the cylindrical blade perfor-
mance significantly.
2. In the blade plan view, the conventional projec-
tion of the blade pressure side is constituted by
one curve only, while in the new design
approach, the corresponding curve is configured
by joining two special curves.
3. Test data of a modified untwisted blade of a
low specific speed impeller based on the new
design method revealed that at the design point
and its nearby operating range, both heads and
efficiencies of the pump are increased, demon-
strating the substantial improvement of the new
approach for pump design.
Declaration of conflicting interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with
respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this
article.
8 Advances in Mechanical Engineering
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial
support for the research, authorship, and/or publication
of this article: This study was financially supported
by the National Key Research and Development
Program ‘‘Research and Application Demonstration of
Complementary Combined Power Generation Technology
between Distributed Photovoltaic and Cascade Small
Hydropower’’ (2018YFB0905200), Key Laboratory of Fluid
and Power Machinery (Xihua University), and Ministry of
Education (Grant No. SZJJ2015-41).
ORCID iD
Jing Yan https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7588-7254
References
1. Gülich JF. Centrifugal pumps. Berlin: Springer, 2008.
2. Lobanoff VS. Centrifugal pumps: design and application.
Houston, TX: Gulf Publishing Company, 1992.
3. Pei J, Wang W, Yuan S, et al. Optimization on the
impeller of a low-specific-speed centrifugal pump for
hydraulic performance improvement. Chin J Mech Eng
2016; 29: 992–1002.
4. Zhang DS, Shi WD, Chen B, et al. Turbulence analysis
and experiments of low-specific-speed centrifugal pump.
Trans CSAE 2010; 26: 108–113.
5. Jafarzadeh B, Hajari A, Alishahi MM, et al. The flow
simulation of a low-specific-speed high-speed centrifugal
pump. Appl Math Model 2011; 35: 242–249.
6. Wang T. Three-D modeling method of centrifugal blades
of low specific speed centrifugal impellers. J Lanzhou
Univ Technol 2010; 36: 43–46.
7. Dick E. Optimum design of centrifugal fans and impel-
lers. Eur J Mech Eng 1992; 37: 9–18.
8. Yan J. A new way for cylindrical blade design. Pump
Technol 1987; 3: 25–28.
9. Yan J. Design of cylindrical blade with involute contour.
T Chin Soc Agr Mach 2003; 34: 80–81.
10. Yan J. A new way of plotting the cylindrical blade.
Proc IMechE, Part A: J Power and Energy 1990; 204:
277–279.
11. Yan J. Cylindrical blades with involute contour. In: Pro-
ceedings of the international conference on mechanics,
2015, pp.491–499. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing
Co. Ltd.
12. Yan J. Equation of a new type of cylindrical blade with
adjustable wrapping angle of centrifugal impellers. Drain
Irrig Mach 2008; 26: 41–44.
13. Guan XF. Theories and design of modern pumps. Beijing,
China: Space Navigation Press, 2014.
14. Zha S. Principles and hydraulic design of vane pumps. Beij-
ing, China: China Machine Press, 1988.
15. White FM. Fluid mechanics. 5th ed. New York: McGraw-
Hill Companies, 2003.
16. Chen NY. Centrifugal pumps. Beijing, China: Mechanical
Industry Publishing House, 2003.
17. Li QY and Wang NC. Numerical analyses. Beijing,
China: Qinghua University Press, 2001.