Abstract
The gap leakage between the impeller ring leads to the change of the pump cavity flow characteristics, resulting in the uneven pressure distribution of shroud, which causes the axial force of the cavity to change. In this paper, the flow in the front and the rear cavity of the multistage centrifugal pump was taken as the research object. Through the numerical method, the radial flow velocity, the leakage flow size and its direction, the core zone rotation factor of the front and the rear cavity of the multistage pump impeller at all stages and the axial force of pump cavity were studied. The results show that the leakage in the front cavity of multistage pump impeller at all stages flows inward along radial direction (i.e. it flows from the inlet of pump cavity to the front ring clearance). The rotation factor in core zone is higher than 0.5, and with the increase of rotation factor, the axial force of the front pump cavity increased. The leakage in the rear pump cavity flows outward along radial direction (i.e. it flows from the rear ring to the inlet of pump cavity). The rotation factor in core zone is less than 0.5, and with the increase of rotation factor, the axial force decreased gradually. Besides, the radial velocity and rotation factor in the front and the rear multistage pump of impellers were obviously along the axial direction at three regions, the regions are pump case boundary layer, core zone and impeller boundary layer. The flow in the core zone is dominated by circumferential circular motion, and the radial velocity in the core zone is 0. It is shown that the direction of the leakage in the pump cavity and the rotation effect of the flow micelle in the mainstream core zone are the main factors affecting the axial force of the pump cavity, and the research results can provide theoretical guidance for the calculation and suppression of axial force of multistage pumps.