Project Details

[Return to Previous Page]

Hydraulic Submergence Development

Company: Flowserve US Inc

Major(s):
Primary: ME
Secondary: IE

Non-Disclosure Agreement: YES

Intellectual Property: NO

In their most basic forms, pumps are used to convert kinetic energy to static pressure. They are used to move a liquid from one place to another. Customer limitations often require pumps to be mounted in sub-optimal or non-traditional configurations. In this project, you will investigate, characterize and visualize the fluid behavior when the hydraulic is mounted non-traditionally (toward the free-surface). This project aims to comprehensively analyze the formation and behavior of vortices in a hydraulic system where an impeller is mounted some distance below the free surface of the fluid. You will develop a comprehensive test plan to evaluate different speeds, hydraulics, fluid viscosities, etc. A test rig has been developed previously by PSU and our team feels this test rig can serve as the basis for thorough hydraulic verification testing and mitigation provisions. Once the vortex behavior is characterized by the team, they will develop “swirl-break” equipment to be mounted on the rig. Swirl breaks are designed to mitigate or minimize bubble or vortex creation.