Optimization of the Splitter Blade Configuration and Geometry of a Centrifugal Pump Impeller using Design of Experiment

Centrifugal pumps are among the most applicable machines in a wide variety of industrial systems for fluid pumping and transportation. Therefore their optimization has always been of great importance. Pump impellers play an important role in these machines as the energy transfer takes place in this part. In the present study, the impeller of a centrifugal pump is optimized by investigating the effect of adding splitter blades and modifying their geometry. A centrifugal pump is experimentally tested and numerically simulated and the characteristic curves are obtained. In the first stage, two different sets of splitter blades with different lengths are added to the impeller and the effect of splitter blade lengths on the results are explored. The case with the highest total head and overall efficiency is selected for the optimization process. The main blade and the splitter blade leading edge position and also the splitter blade distance between two successive blades are selected for the optimization process in the second stage. Efficiency and total head of the pump are considered as the optimization objectives. Using Design of Experiment (DoE) technique, the design space is created and response surface method is utilized to find the optimum geometry. The results show adding splitters can improve total head by about 10.6% and by modifying the geometry using DoE technique it could increase further by 4.4% with the negligible effect on the pump overall efficiency.