Analysis and Optimization of Staggered Partial Diffuser Vanes in a Centrifugal Pump

Abstract

A performance analysis and three-objective design optimization were performed for the staggered partial diffuser vanes in a centrifugal pump using three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations. First, the performance of the diffuser vanes was evaluated for four different arrangements: full-height diffuser vanes, vaneless diffuser, half vanes attached to the hub, half vanes attached to the shroud, and staggered vanes attached alternately to the hub and the shroud. The staggered partial diffuser vanes were optimized using the following design variables: the installation angle of the vanes, the heights of the vanes attached to the hub and shroud, and the angle of rotation of the straight part on the pressure surface of the vanes. The objective functions were the hydraulic efficiency, the flowrate of the maximum pressure recovery, and the operating range of the diffuser. The Kriging model was used to construct surrogate models of the objective functions based on the results at the design points obtained by Latin hypercube sampling. The Pareto-optimal solutions were obtained by a multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA). The representative Pareto-optimal solutions for the staggered diffuser vanes obtained by the K-means clustering showed the improved performances in terms of both the hydraulic performance and operating range compared with the full-height diffuser vanes and the baseline design.