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Introduction
Centrifugal pumps are widely used to transport
fine particle suspensions, for example mineral
tailings. These suspensions are, or may be
approximated to be homogeneous nonNewtonian fluids and examples include clay
suspensions and some food products. More
complex suspensions, which include a nonNewtonian carrier fluid and non-interacting
coarse solids, are also common, especially in
tailings disposal. Plant designers usually have
only the water performance of the pump
available for selection, with little data available
in the public domain for fluids with more
complex rheology or complex suspensions
including coarse solids. An effective
generalized method to allow calculation of
pump deration for non-Newtonian fluids and
complex suspensions is not currently available
and pump tests using the actual fluids or
suspensions usually need to be carried out.
The Journal of The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy
VOLUME 107
* Private Consultant.
CSIRO Manufacturing and Materials Technology
The Southern African Institute of Mining and
Metallurgy, 2007. SA ISSN 0038223X/3.00 +
0.00. This paper was first published at the SAIMM
Conference, Hydrotransport 17, 711 May 2007.
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Synopsis
T
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Figure 1Shear thinning system curve (solid curve) and pump curves
for Newtonian (chain line) and shear thinning fluids (dashed line)
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Figure 2Turbulent transition flow rates for two fluids, f = 1500 kg m-3,
with yield stresses of 5 and 10 Pa versus flow passage diameter.
Superimposed on this graph, assuming geometric similarity, are
estimations of equivalent rotor passage diameters and flow rates for
two commercially available pump series
The Journal of The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy
T
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[1]
where w is a characteristic dimension to be determined
experimentally. Although it is tempting to use the actual rotor
passage width, it is very unlikely that such a value would be
correct. This is because the equivalent pipe must account for
all flows within the pump and as such is purely fictitiousa
characteristic dimension used for data reduction. Note this
form also ignores the rotor blade thickness, but since a
fictitious characteristic geometry is sought such refinement is
not justified.
Velocity through the pipe
Table I
Number of blades
0.245
0.310
5
3
[2]
If the flow is laminar, the shear rate is then obtained from
the Rabinowitsch-Mooney relationship
[3]
Experimental facility
The non-Newtonian fluids used were aqueous polymer
solutions: CMC (approximating a power law fluid) and Ultrez
10 (approximating a Herschel-Bulkley fluid). These fluids
were chosen as their rheologies are typical of many thickener
underflows and carrier fluids found in industry. Complex
suspensions were made up by adding crushed glass or sand
to the carrier fluids. The characteristics of the suspension
were determined by measuring the carrier fluid rheology and
particle size distribution by screening where applicable. A
Bohlin CVO 50 controlled stress viscometer was used to
determine the rheological properties of the CMC and Ultrez
carrier fluids.
Initial tests conducted using water showed that both
pumps head characteristics were essentially the same as
their published clean water curves.
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Other pumps
Pump
GIW 4x3
GIW 4x3
GIW 4x3
Warman 4x3
Warman 4x3
Warman 4x3
Warman 4x3
Warman 4x3
Warman 4x3
Warman 4x3
Fluid
CMC
Ultrez 10
Ultrez 10
CMC
CMC
CMC
CMC
CMC
Ultrez 10
Ultrez 10
0
14.0
17.0
0
0
0
0
0
12.2
17.2
5.8
11.0
7.7
8.5
4.5
8.6
4.0
13.9
10.8
18.5
0.48
0.39
0.43
0.46
0.48
0.45
0.47
0.41
0.39
0.35
Table III
w/Dimp
0.059
0.084
24.0%
27.0%
Warman 4x3 AH
GIW 4x3 LCC-M80-30
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Figure 4Corrected head versus the actual head for the Warman and
GIW pumps
Head (m)
Pump
Q (m3/s)
Figure 5Head flow curves for GIW 4x3 pump and CMC fluid.
Experimental data and predictions
The Journal of The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy
y (Pa)
k (Pa sn)
n (-)
5% kaolin
10% kaolin
4.74
35.23
0.095
6.15
0.664
0.168
Table V
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y (Pa)
k (Pa sn)
n (-)
14
28
0.072
0.16
1
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Table IV
Head (m Slurry)
Figure 7Corrected head versus actual head for a GIW pump pumping
kaolin suspensions
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Head (m)
Q (m3/s)
Q (m3 s-1)
Figure 10Engin and Gur and Sellgre et al. correlations showing the
effect of fluid viscosity
Table VI
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cv (%)
Solid
d50 (mm)
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
8.79
8.25
6.91
4.86
3.61
14.56
12.59
6.50
3.38
1.10
5.33
4.55
2.09
3.06
2.56
0.86
0.50
0.26
3.51
3.27
2.37
1.87
8.57
3.58
11.05
2.37
1.10
14.40
10.34
4.07
0.579
0.695
0.535
0.556
0.637
0.531
0.559
0.658
0.713
0.789
0.494
0.499
0.524
0.552
0.406
0.487
0.377
0.542
0.615
0.369
0.399
0.474
30
30
5
10
20
5
10
20
30
38
5
10
20
30
10
20
20
30
30
10
20
30
Sand
Sand
Sand
Sand
Sand
Sand
Sand
Sand
Sand
Sand
Glass
Glass
Glass
Glass
Glass
Glass
Glass
Glass
Glass
Glass
Glass
Glass
1.56
1.56
2.24
2.24
2.24
1.56
1.56
1.56
1.56
1.56
1.12
1.12
1.41
1.43
1.84
1.85
1.85
1.87
1.87
3.41
3.33
3.33
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References
1. Hydraulic Institute. Hydraulic Institute Standards for centrifugal, rotary
Conclusions
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank the following companies who
have sponsored part of this work through the AMIRA P599
The Journal of The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy
Nomenclature
Dh
(m)
Dimp
(m)
Pump head
(m)
HR
Head ratio
(-)
Consistency index
Pump speed
NB
Number of blades
Shear rate
Apparent viscosity
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(Pa sn)
(RPS)
(-)
(m3 s-1)
(m s-1)
(m)
(s-1)
(Pa s)
(Pa)
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