ABSTRACT

Centrifugal pumps are known to show a "surging behavior" at certain conditions of free gas and liquid flow rate at the intake. In the surging region on a pump characteristic curve, the head generated is significantly lower than if the pump was handling gas-liquid bubbly mixture. The surging happens due to the existence of an "elongated bubble" at the inlet region of the pump impeller. The existence of this elongated bubble at the rotor entrance has dramatic effects on the energy transfer process to the gas-liquid mixture and shall not be overshadowed. Therefore, to map and correlate the pump performance curve in terms of the two-phase flow parameters one has to disclose and set a model that encompasses the mechanisms that form this elongated bubble. The one-dimensional Two-Fluid Model was used to accomplish this.

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