The Effect of Blade Design on Wear Rate and Life Span of Slurry Pumps

One of the most important reasons for the wearing of the blades in the slurry pumps is cavitation. The current article investigates the inverse profile of the blade on the cavitation and erosion performances of the slurry pumps. In this article, the inverse profile of the blade is considered as straight and curved lines. The flow simulation is conducted as steady and 3-dimensional, using Realizable k— ε as the turbulence model. The results of the simulation demonstrated that in the curved profile volume fraction and the explosion of bubbles at the tip of the blade is lower than that of the straight line. Furthermore, in this article, the blades were tested in both states, showing that when the inverse profile of the blade changes from straight line to curved, cavitation decreases hence the lifespan of the blade increases. In the experimental results, a blade with a straight line inverse profile eroded and completely destroyed after 12 days of functioning, while in a curved inverse profile, the blade can work well—enough for 23 days (91% increase in lifespan).