2025, Vol. 7, Issue 10, Part B

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Numerical simulation of flow characteristics inside a liquid ring vacuum pump is carried out using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to investigate the effects of axial clearance and liquid feed rate on pump performance. The liquid ring vacuum pump with rotational speed of 2850 rpm was used for the numerical simulation. The axial clearance of the pump was changed to 0.1 mm, 0.2 mm and 0.3 mm, and the liquid feed rate was changed to 0.03 kg/s, 0.04 kg/s, and 0.05 kg/s. The results show that the impeller torque is the minimum when the axial clearance is 0.3 mm and the liquid feed rate is 0.03 kg/s, but the maximum compression pressure is 1.3 times smaller than that of the pump with 0.1 mm axial clearance and 0.05 kg/s liquid feed rate. The liquid injected through the liquid inlet flows toward the outlet region with increasing of the liquid feed rate and flows toward the inlet region with decreasing of liquid feed rate when the axial clearance is constant. And the liquid injected into the pump inside flows toward the inlet region with increasing of the axial clearance when the liquid feed rate is constant. The pressure distribution and the impeller torque of the pump are different with the change of axial clearances and liquid feed rates. The results of the research show that the axial clearance and the liquid feed rate of liquid ring vacuum pump have a significant influence on the pump performance.