Performance prediction for centrifugal pumps is now mainly based on numerical calculation and most of the studies merely focus on one model. Therefore, the research results are not representative. To make an improvement of numerical calculation method and performance prediction for centrifugal pumps, performance of six centrifugal pump models at design flow rate and off design flow rates, whose specific speed are different, were simulated by using commercial code FLUENT. The standard k-ε turbulence model and SIMPLEC algorithm were chosen in FLUENT. The simulation was steady and moving reference frame was used to consider the impeller-volute interaction. Also, how to dispose the gap between impeller and volute was presented and the effect of grid number was considered. The characteristic prediction model for centrifugal pumps is established according to the simulation results. The head and efficiency of the six models at different flow rates are predicted and the prediction results are compared with the experiment results in detail. The comparison indicates that the precision of head and efficiency prediction are all less than 5%. The flow analysis indicates that flow change has an important effect on the location and area of low pressure region behind the blade inlet and the direction of velocity at impeller inlet. The study shows that using FLUENT simulation results to predict performance of centrifugal pumps is feasible and accurate. The method can be applied in engineering practice.
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