Where published:Part C: Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science , Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers
Year:2017
In order to investigate the flow characteristics and the formation process of cavitation in twin-screw pumps, three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics numerical analysis has been carried out. A conformal structured moving mesh generated by an in-house code SCORG was applied for the rotor domain. The volume of fluid method has been adopted for dealing with the liquid-gas two-phase flow, while the bubble dynamics was handled by a homogenous cavitation model. By changing the rotation speed and discharge pressure, the intensity, distribution area and variation of cavitation at different rotor angle were obtained. The effects of rotation speed and discharge pressure on cavitation characteristics have been analysed. Calculation results with cavitation model are compared with the results without cavitation and the experimentally obtained values. The influence of cavitation on the performance of a screw pump in terms of the mass flow rate, pressure distribution, rotor torque and the shaft power has been analysed and discussed. For analysis of cavitation in clearances, a 2D numerical model which includes radial and inter-lobe clearances was used. The relationship between volumetric efficiency and cavitation intensity was developed by variation of boundary conditions.