Abstract

The aim of this study was to experimentally investigate the effect of speed, concentration and size of slurry on the performance of a centrifugal pump. For this purpose a facility was built where the performance of a centrifugal slurry pump was examined using aggregate slurry. Three sizes of slurry with three concentrations and at three impeller speeds were used for the performance investigations of a centrifugal slurry pump. As a reference performance the performance of centrifugal slurry pump was also tested with clean water. The performance of pump has been reported as variations of head, power and efficiency at various flow rates along with the system characteristics of the pump. The results reveal that the pump performance is grossly affected by the type of slurry, its concentration and size. Besides this the variation in speed also affects the performance as is observed in pumps with water. The maximum decrease in the head, with respect to clear water, at the operating point was found to be 47% for aggregate for size 20 mm, 15% concentration and 2600 rpm. The maximum decrement in efficiency at operating point for aggregate was found to be 47% for 4 mm size, 15% concentration and at 2200 rpm. The power increment requirement for aggregate was 9% for 4 mm size, 15% concentration and 2600 rpm.

Keywords:

Aggregate, concentration, performance, pump, slurry,

References

1. Burgess, K.E. and S.A. Riezes, 1976. The effect of sizing, specific gravity and concentration on the performance of centrifugal slurry pumps. Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng., 190(36/76): 391-399.
   
2. Chand, P., B. Adinarayana and R.P. Singh, 1985. Effect of drag reducing polymers on slurry pump characteristics. Bulk Solids Handl., 5(4): 807-811.
   
3. Fairbank, L.C., 1942. Effect on the characteristic of centrifugal pumps. Proceeding of the Symposium on Solids in Suspension, 107: 1564-1575.
   
4. Gahlot, V.K., V. Seshadri and R.C. Malhotra, 1992. Effect of density, sizing distribution and concentration of solid on the characteristics of centrifugal pmps. ASME J. Fluid. Eng., 114: 386-389.
   
5. Gandhi, B.K., S.N. Singh and V. Seshadri, 2001. Performance characteristics of centrifugal slurry pumps. J. Fluid Eng., 123: 271-280.
   CrossRef    
6. Ni, F., W.J. Vlasblom and A. Zwartbol, 1999. Effect of high solid concentration on characteristics of slurry pumps. Hydrotransport 14, BHRA Fluid Eng. Maastricht, the Netherland, pp: 141-149.
   
7. Ni, F., W.J. Vlasblom and A. Zwaartbol, 2000. Effect of high solids concentration on characteristics of a slurry pump. Proceeding of the 14th International Conference of Slurry Handling and Pipe line Transport.
   
8. Satoshi, O., K. Asano and W. Keizo, 2006. Effect of surfactant additives on centrifugal pump performance. Trans. ASME, 128(4): 794-798.
   
9. Sellgren, A., 1979. Performance of a centrifugal pump when pumping ores and industrial minerals. Proceeding of Hydrotransport 6. NHRA Fluid Engineering, Canterbury, Paper G1.
   
10. Sellgren, A. and L. Vappling, 1986. Effects of highly concentrated slurries on the performance of centrifugal pumps. Proceeding of the International Symposium on Slurry Flows. ASME-FED, USA, 38: 143-148.
    PMid:3564950    
11. Sellgren, A., G. Addie and W.C. Yu, 2000a. Effects of non-Newtonian mineral suspensions on the performance of centrifugal pumps. Miner. Process. Extr. M. Int. J., 20: 239-249.
    CrossRef    
12. Sellgren, A., G. Addie and S. Scott, 2000b. The effect of sand-clay slurries on theperformance of centrifugal pump. Can. J. Chem. Eng., 78(4): 764-769.
    CrossRef    
13. Stepanoff, A.J., 1965. Pumps and Blowers, Two Phase Flow-flow and Pumping of Solids in Suspension and Fluid Mixtures. Wiley, New York.
    
14. Vocaldo, J.J., J.K. Koo and A.J. Prang, 1974. Performance of centrifugal pumps in slurry services. Proceedings of 3rd International Conference on the Hydraulic Transport of Solids in Pipes (Hydro Transport 3). Colorado, USA, Paper J2.
    
15. Walker, C.I. and A. Goulas, 1984. Performance characteristics of centrifugal pumps when handling non-Newtonian slurries. Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng., 198A(1): 41-49.
    CrossRef    
16. Wiedenroth, W., 1970. The influence of sand and gravel on the characteristic of centrifugal pumps, some aspects of wear in hydraulic transportation installations. In Hydrotransport 1. BHRA Fluid Engineering, Warwick, Paper El.
    

Competing interests

The authors have no competing interests.

Open Access Policy

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

Copyright

The authors have no competing interests.