Experimental Research and Numerical Analysis of Pressure Fluctuation Characteristics of Rim Driven Propulsion Pump Outlet

The pressure fluctuation characteristics of a rim driven propulsion pump are studied by an experimental method firstly, and then its unsteady inner flow is studied by numerical simulation to reveal the generating mechanism of the pressure fluctuation. In the experiment, a monitoring point was set in a downstream region with a distance of 1D (D, Diameter of impeller) to the impeller. The monitoring point’s dominant frequencies within a low frequency band are 1APF (APF, Axial Passing Frequency) and 2APF. In the numerical simulation, the main fluctuation near the impeller region appears at 1BPF (BPF, Blade Passing Frequency) and as the monitoring point moves downstream, the amplitude becomes smaller. The 1BPF fluctuation nearly disappears when the distance exceeds 1D, and the main frequency moves to 1APF and 2APF, which is in good agreement with the experimental results in the low frequency band. The transient velocity, pressure and vorticity distribution were studied to reveal the causes of 1BPF, 1APF and 2APF fluctuation. The main cause of 1BPF is the jet from the tail of the blade and the main cause of 2APF is the movement of a large-scale double vortex structure on both sides of the low-pressure zone. The movement of the vortex group near the wall may be the main cause that induces the 1APF fluctuation.