Erosion wear in a double-suction centrifugal pump using an improved erosion model

Abstract Prediction of erosion wear in double-suction centrifugal pumps is studied numerically using an improved erosion model (EM). Experiments are also performed to verify the improved EM’s prediction ability. In the experiments, painted layers of five colors are applied to the blade surfaces using spray guns to show the erosion wear distribution, where the colors and the order are selected based on the simulated results. In simulations based on the Oka model, the small-angle scratching effect is specifically added to the improved erosion model (called the Qian EM here). For the chosen double-suction centrifugal pump, the Oka EM and the Qian EM are used to predict erosion wear, including the wear area and intensity. Both EMs effectively predict the erosion areas of the leading edge, the suction side inlet part and the pressure side outlet part of the blade, but the Qian EM shows better ability to predict the erosion area of the outlet part on the suction side. Additionally, the erosion intensity seems more reasonable with the Qian EM. Inclusion of all different particle sizes in the numerical simulations is found to be necessary to predict erosion wear accurately because each single particle size may provide important information.