Closed Impeller

Axial Flow - Single Stage or

Fixed Pitch
Multistage
Open Impeller

Variable Pitch

Centrifugal
Mixed Flow, Radial Flow - Self Priming, Nonpriming, Open Impeller, Semiopen
Single or Double Suction Single Stage, Multistage Impeller, Closed Impeller

Self Priming
Peripheral - Single or Multi
Stage
Dynamic
Nonpriming

Jet (Eductor)

Gas Lift

Special Effect

Hydraulic Ram

Electromagnetic

Simplex
Pumps

Steam - Double Acting

Duplex

Piston Plunger Simplex

Duplex
Power - Single or Double
Reciprocating
Acting
Triplex

Fluid Operated
Diaphragm - Simplex or
Multiplex
Multiplex
Mechanically Operated

Vane

Displacement
Piston

Single Rotor Flexible Member

Screw

Peristaltic
Rotary

Gear

Lobe

Multiple Rotor

Circumferential Piston

Screw
 1. Intro
1.1. Pumps Intro
1.1.1. Terminology
 Total Static Head - Total head when the pump is not running
 Total Dynamic Head (Total System Head) - Total head when the pump is running
 Static Suction Head - Head on the suction side, with pump off, if the head is higher than the
pump impeller
 Static Suction Lift - Head on the suction side, with pump off, if the head is lower than the
pump impeller
 Static Discharge Head - Head on discharge side of pump with the pump off
 Dynamic Suction Head/Lift - Head on suction side of pump with pump on
 Dynamic Discharge Head - Head on discharge side of pump with pump on

1.2. Major Types

1.2.1. Centrifugal Pumps (Roto-dynamic pumps)
The centrifugal or roto-dynamic pump produce a head and a flow by increasing the velocity of the
liquid through the machine with the help of a rotating vane impeller. Centrifugal pumps include
radial, axial and mixed flow units.

Centrifugal pumps can further be classified as

• End suction pumps
• In-line pumps
• Double suction pumps
• Vertical multistage pumps
• Horizontal multistage pumps
• Submersible pumps
• Self-priming pumps
• Axial-flow pumps
• Regenerative pumps

1.2.2. Positive Displacement Pumps

The positive displacement pump operates by alternating of filling a cavity and then displacing a given
volume of liquid. The positive displacement pump delivers a constant volume of liquid for each cycle
against varying discharge pressure or head.

The positive displacement pump can be classified as:

• Reciprocating pumps - piston, plunger and diaphragm

• Power pumps
• Steam pumps
• Rotary pumps - gear, lobe, screw, vane, regenerative (peripheral) and progressive cavity
 1.3. Selecting between Centrifugal or Positive Displacement Pumps
Selecting between a Centrifugal Pump or a Positive Displacement Pump is not always straight
forward.

1.3.1. Flow Rate and Pressure Head

The two types of pumps behave very differently regarding pressure head and flow rate:

• The Centrifugal Pump has varying flow depending on the system pressure or head
• The Positive Displacement Pump has more or less a constant flow regardless of the system
pressure or head. Positive Displacement pumps generally gives more pressure than
Centrifugal Pump's.

1.3.2. Capacity and Viscosity

Another major difference between the pump types is the effect of viscosity on the capacity:

• In the Centrifugal Pump the flow is reduced when the viscosity is increased
• In the Positive Displacement Pump the flow is increased when viscosity is increased
Liquids with high viscosity fills the clearances of a Positive Displacement Pump causing a higher
volumetric efficiency and a Positive Displacement Pump is better suited for high viscosity
applications. A Centrifugal Pump becomes very inefficient at even modest viscosity.

1.3.3. Mechanical Efficiency

The pumps behaves different considering mechanical efficiency as well.

• Changing the system pressure or head has little or no effect on the flow rate in the
Positive Displacement Pump
• Changing the system pressure or head has a dramatic effect on the flow rate in the
Centrifugal Pump

1.3.4. Net Positive Suction Head - NPSH

Another consideration is the Net Positive Suction Head NPSH.

• In a Centrifugal Pump, NPSH varies as a function of flow determined by pressure

• In a Positive Displacement Pump, NPSH varies as a function of flow determined by speed.
Reducing the speed of the Positive Displacement Pump pump, reduces the NPSH
 1.4. Centrifugal Pump Overview
A centrifugal pump converts input power to kinetic energy by accelerating liquid in a revolving
device - an impeller.

The most common is the volute pump - where fluid enters the pump through the eye of the impeller
which rotates at high speed. The fluid accelerates radially outward from the pump chasing and a
vacuum is created at the impellers eye that continuously draws more fluid into the pump.

The energy from the pumps prime mover is transfered to kinetic energy according the Bernoulli
Equation. The energy transferred to the liquid corresponds to the velocity at the edge or vane tip of
the impeller. The faster the impeller revolves or the bigger the impeller is, the higher will the velocity
of the liquid energy transferred to the liquid be. This is described by the Affinity Laws.

1.4.1. Pressure and Head

If the discharge of a centrifugal pump is pointed straight up into the air the fluid will pumped to a
certain height - or head - called the shut off head. This maximum head is mainly determined by the
outside diameter of the pump's impeller and the speed of the rotating shaft. The head will change as
the capacity of the pump is altered.

The kinetic energy of a liquid coming out of an impeller is obstructed by creating a resistance in the
flow. The first resistance is created by the pump casing which catches the liquid and slows it down.
When the liquid slows down the kinetic energy is converted to pressure energy.

• It is the resistance to the pump's flow that is read on a pressure gauge attached to the
discharge line

A pump does not create pressure, it only creates flow. The gauge pressure is a measurement of the
resistance to flow.

In fluids the term head is used to measure the kinetic energy which a pump creates. Head is a
measurement of the height of the liquid column the pump could create from the kinetic energy the
pump gives to the liquid.

• The main reason for using head instead of pressure to measure a centrifugal pump's
energy is that the pressure from a pump will change if the specific gravity (weight) of the
liquid changes, but the head will not

The pump's performance on any Newtonian fluid can always be described by using the term head.
 2. Centrifugal Pump
Centrifugal pumps (rotodynamic pumps) are rotary machines in which flow and pressure is
generated dynamically. Energy is delivered to fluids through velocity changes that occur as the fluid
flows through the impeller and fixed passageways of the pump. All impeller pumps are rotodynamic.

Energy Transfer

Hydraulics or fluid dynamics has primary influence on the geometry of a rotodynamic pump stage.
Therefore action of mechanical input shaft power to effect increase in the energy of pumpage is
governed by thermodynamics.

First Law of Thermodynamics

Fluid flow through centrifugal pumps are adiabatic. That is; heat transfer is negligible in comparison
to other forms of energy involved in the transfer process. Although energy delivered to the fluid by
the rotating blades is unsteady between the blades, the flow across the boundaries of the control
volume of the pump is steady.

The adiabatic steady flow energy equation is as follows.

𝑉2 𝑉2
𝑃𝑠 = 𝑚̇ [(ℎ + + 𝑔𝑍𝑒 ) − (ℎ + + 𝑔𝑍𝑒 ) ]
2 𝑜𝑢𝑡
2 𝑖𝑛

Where;
𝑝
ℎ=𝑢+
𝜌

For incompressible fluids;

𝑃𝑠
= 𝑔Δ𝐻 + Δ𝑢
𝑚̇

𝑝 𝑉2
H=
+ + 𝑍𝑒
𝜌𝑔 2𝑔
𝐷𝑦𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑐 𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑑 = 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑 + 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑 + 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑

Where;

𝑃𝑠 = 𝑆ℎ𝑎𝑓𝑡 𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟
𝑚̇ = 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒
𝑢 = 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦

Second Law of Thermodynamics: Losses and Efficiency

Not all input power generated; supplied by the shaft per unit of mass flow rate, is useful as pump
output energy. Losses produce an increase in internal energy, temperature and heat transfer into
the control volume due to the second law of thermodynamics.

𝑃𝑆
𝑔Δ𝐻 < 𝑜𝑟 𝜂 < 1
𝑚̇
Where;

𝑚̇ = 𝜌𝑄
𝜂 = 𝜂𝑚 × 𝜂𝐻𝑌 × 𝜂𝑣
𝑃𝐼 𝑃𝑆 − 𝑃𝐷
𝜂𝑚 = 𝑀𝑒𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝐸𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 = =
𝑃𝑆 𝑃𝑆
Δ𝐻 Δ𝐻𝑖 − ∑𝐻𝐿
𝜂𝐻𝑌 = 𝐻𝑦𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑢𝑙𝑖𝑐 𝐸𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 = =
Δ𝐻𝑖 Δ𝐻𝑖
𝑄
𝜂𝑣 = 𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐 𝐸𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 =
𝑄 + 𝑄𝐿

Therefore efficiency is determined by three factors.

1) External Drags on rotating elements; major contributor being the disk friction or 𝑃𝐷 which is
the proportion of shaft power that is not delivered to the fluid flowing through the impeller
passages. Therefore 𝑃𝐷 = 𝑃𝑆 − 𝑃𝐼 .
2) Hydraulic losses in the main flow passages of the pump, particularly the inlet branch,
impeller, diffuser or volute, return to passages in multistage pumps and outlet branch.
3) External leaks, leaking past the impeller and back into the inlet eye.

Velocity Diagrams and Head Generation