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Optimizing impeller geometry for performance enhancement of a centrifugal

pump using the Taguchi quality concept

Article  in  Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part A Journal of Power and Energy · November 2006
DOI: 10.1243/09576509JPE184

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 765

Optimizing impeller geometry for performance

enhancement of a centrifugal pump using
the Taguchi quality concept
M Nataraj
and V P Arunachalam
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Government College of Technology, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India

The manuscript was received on 19 April 2005 and was accepted after revision for publication on 25 May 2006.

DOI: 10.1243/09576509JPE184

Abstract: This article discusses a research methodology for performance enhancement of cen-
trifugal pump through Taguchi’s parametric design concept. The objective is to find an opti-
mum impeller design and geometry that makes the pump functionally reliable for winning
customer’s confidence. Computational fluid dynamic (CFD) analysis has been done to know
how the flow pattern changes in the impeller when the pump is required to run at different oper-
ating conditions. The streamline analysis from CFD plots gives informative pictures of the flow
field, which help the designer understand how the effect of deviation made in the impeller
design specifications significantly influence the pump performance. CFD results match well
with the predictions of the pump performance at the duty point as regard to head, discharge,
and efficiency of the prototype model. The study infers that the CFD prediction tallies with
Taguchi’s experimental results.

Keywords: pump impeller, performance enhancement, orthogonal array, design of experi-

ments, signal– noise ratio, analysis of variance, response analysis, computational fluid dynamic
analysis

1 LITERATURE REVIEW attained the saturation stage. In fact, pump design

The design of hydraulic machinery involves a lot of
parameters that are interdependent and, in turn,
iterative, which makes the problem at hand more
complex for the human brain to manipulate [1 –3].
However, the innovation in computational fluid
dynamic (CFD) field has made it possible to simulate
and visualize some of the features of flow through
rotating machines that would be difficult to measure
experimentally [4 –8]. The importance of pumps in
hydraulic field had been sensed by mankind over
the 20th and 21st centuries (see References). The
global market of today is flooded with plenty of
varieties, types, and sizes of pumps. In spite of
its age, even today the design of pumps has not


Corresponding author: Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Government College of Technology, No. 70, New Quarters, Coim-
batore, Tamil Nadu 641 013, India. email: m_natanuragct@
yahoo.com
compatible with the production environment had
been a major challenge to researchers. Particularly,
researchers along with engineers had been striving
to improve the design of impellers with the specific
attention directed to enabling the enhancement of
pump performance [9 – 11]. Li [12] formulated a
method for analysing the performance of centrifugal
oil pump, whereas Li et al. [13] analysed in their work
the influence of a number of impeller blades on the
performance of centrifugal oil pumps.
Performance prediction procedures for centrifugal
and axial flow turbomachines have been widely pub-
lished by several researchers [14– 18] since the early
days of turbomachine design, whereas those for
mixed flow machines are not well established in the
open literature because of the industrial sources
being classified as competition-sensitive by every
industry. Sarkar [19, 20] presented the performance
prediction method for a mixed flow impeller on the
basis of the two-dimensional cascade theory, extend-
ing Howell’s [14] calculation for the analysis of axial

JPE184 # IMechE 2006 Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part A: J. Power and Energy
766 M Nataraj and V P Arunachalam
flow turbomachines. Oh and Chung [21] developed
an automated design code to find the optimum
values of design variables versus specific speed
based on the mean streamline analysis for centrifu-
gal pump. With the recently emerged powerful qual-
ity design tools [22 – 25] for novelty, an attempt has
been made in this research study to propose a modi-
fied design parameter combination that describes
the sub-macrocharacteristics, such as total head, dis-
charge, overall efficiency, and power based on the
performance and geometry of the pump impeller at
best efficiency point, as the practical pump design
process involves a number of compromises between
overall efficiency, discharge, total head, suppression
of cavitation, reduction in product price, and many
other vendees requirements. This article reports a
two-phase research project that has been carried
out to build up a design improvement methodology
pertaining to pump impellers using the parameter
design approach as no one applies Taguchi’s offline
quality technique in pump field till date.
During the first phase of work, Taguchi’s
orthogonal array (OA)-based design of experiments
(DoE) concept was used to arrive at the near optimal
parameters of impeller for increased discharge,
improved overall efficiency, higher head, and mini-
mized power consumption with the view intended
for enhancing the pump performance. In the
second phase of the work, virtual model analysis
was carried out using a CFD tool. The final optimized
design was approved by an Indian pump manufac-
turer M/s. V-Guard Industries (P) Ltd, situated in
Coimbatore city of India (hereafter referred to as V-
Guard), which signalled the practical compatibility
of this research project. The CFD approach helped
the design engineers of the above pump manufactur-
ing industry to appreciate the performance enhance-
ment of the pump, which was possible because of
the optimized impeller design. The details of this
endeavour are briefly presented in this research
article. This computational technique provides a
new direction to the pump designer, especially for
new design and new application, without immedi-
ately going for physical prototype. This attempt for
pump performance enhancement has been done
with the intention of winning customer’s confidence,
thereby helping the pump manufacturers to sustain
in the competitive global market.
2 TAGUCHI’S APPROACH FOR QUALITY
ENGINEERING
Taguchi’s quality technique greatly improves an
organization’s ability to meet market windows and
to keep development and manufacturing costs
as low as possible. It uses many ideas from the
Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part A: J. Power and Energy
statistical experiment design and adds a new dimen-
sion to it by explicitly addressing two major concerns
faced by all product and process designers.
1. How to reduce economically the variation of a
product’s function in the customer’s environment?
2. How to ensure that decisions found optimum
during laboratory experiments will prove to be
valid and reliable in manufacturing and customer
environments?
Another advantage is that optimum working
conditions determined from the laboratory work can
also be reproduced in the real production environ-
ment. Readers who are interested in the Taguchi
quality engineering are referred to references [22–25].
3 PROBLEM FORMULATION
The machine tool industry in India has made
tremendous progress; however, the fluid flow field
that uses various hydraulic pumps continues to
suffer from a major drawback of not utilizing the
pumps at their full potential [3, 26]. A major cause
leading to such a situation is not to run the pumps
at their optimum operating conditions. The offline
quality control proposed and developed by Taguchi
encompasses all stages of the product/process devel-
opment. The key element for achieving high quality
and low cost is parameter design. The objective of
this research study is to obtain (modified) optimum
dimensions of impeller (eye diameter, width of
impeller, vane outlet angle, and number of vanes)
for performance enhancement of the pump. In this
study, maximizing the discharge, head, and
efficiency and minimizing the power consumption
are the objective functions. For maximizing, larger-
the-better (LTB) quality characteristic is chosen.
smaller-the-better (STB) quality characteristic is
chosen for minimizing the power consumption.
The signal –noise (SN) ratio equations for the
respective quality characteristic measure are given
below [25]
" #
1X n
1
SNLTB ¼ 10 log (1)
n i¼1 yi2
" #
1X n
1
SNSTB ¼ 10 log (2)
n i¼1 yi2
4 TEST PUMP WITH IMPELLER
The process liquid enters the suction nozzle and then
into the eye (centre) of a revolving device known as
the impeller. When the impeller rotates, it spins the
liquid sitting in the cavities between the vanes
JPE184 # IMechE 2006
 Optimizing impeller geometry for performance enhancement 767

outward and provides centrifugal acceleration. As the Table 1 Impeller specifications with parameter levels
liquid leaves the eye of the impeller, a low-pressure
Levels
area is created causing more liquid to flow towards
the inlet. Because the impeller blades are curved, Control factors 1 2 3 4
the fluid is pushed in tangential and radial directions
A Impeller width (mm) b 5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5
by the centrifugal force. This force acting inside the B Impeller eye diameter (mm) d 30 35 – –
pump is the same one that keeps water inside a C No. of vanes z 4 5 – –
bucket, rotating at the end of a string. Figure 1 D Vane outlet angle (8) b2 20 23 – –
depicts a side cross-section of a centrifugal pump Noise factors Range
indicating the movement of the liquid. Figure 2 Speed (r/min) 2640–2814
Current (amps) 3.54–5.60
shows an impeller model with four vanes used in Frequency (Hz) 49.2–49.6
the test pump of the present work for the trial run.
Over the recent years, several researchers [4– 21]
have taken much effort to develop hydroturboma-
Table 2 Parameter levels of impeller geometry
chines for performance enhancement through the
study of different configurations of several hypothe- Impeller dimensions
tical flow analyses. From the literature review and
Test Eye diameter No. of Vane
general insights acquired by the in-depth study pump Width (mm) (mm) vanes outlet angle
of pump impeller, the most influencing design
variables are impeller width, impeller eye diameter, 1 5.0 30 4 208
2 5.0 35 5 238
number of vanes, and vane outlet angle for enhan- 3 5.5 30 4 238
cing pump performance [26]. The pump under con- 4 5.5 35 5 208
sideration is of end-suction centrifugal type with 5 6.0 30 5 208
6 6.0 35 4 238
specific speed of 10.07. The impeller has been 7 6.5 30 5 238
designed by established method [2] for 1.25 lps dis- 8 6.5 35 4 208
charge and 21 m total head of water. Vane profile is
being generated by the single arc circular method.
Table 1 provides the impeller specifications with par-
ameter levels. Eight impeller models with parameter
combinations as given in Table 2 have been fabri-
cated in accordance with Taguchi’s L8 (41  24)
mixed OA to carry out the experimental trial runs.
Variables, namely, impeller eye diameter, number
of vanes, and vane outlet angle are considered with
two levels and impeller width with four levels.
These pumps have been tested (for different control
factors, viz., vanes, vane outlet angle, impeller eye
diameter, and impeller width against noise factors,
viz., current rating, frequency, and motor speed) in
the R&D laboratory of pump divisions of V-Guard
for performance evaluation to optimize the impeller
dimensions.
Fig. 1 Liquid flow inside a centrifugal pump

5 FIRST PHASE: CASE STUDY

The problem is illustrated with a real case study.

Fabrication and testing of pumps had been carried
out at V-Guard.

5.1 Experimental analysis

The observed responses (discharge, head, efficiency,
and power) from the eight experimental trial runs
with four repetitions are given in Tables 3 and 4.
Head, discharge, and efficiency are LTB type of qual-
Fig. 2 Impeller model with four vanes ity characteristics (goal is always to have maximum).

JPE184 # IMechE 2006 Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part A: J. Power and Energy
768 M Nataraj and V P Arunachalam

Table 3 Experimental data for discharge and head

Discharge in lps Head in metre of water

Trials R1 R2 R3 R4 R1 R2 R3 R4

1 2.1739 1.7899 1.1274 0.7710 8.4278 13.9064 20.2877 21.0624

2 2.4096 2.1053 1.5528 0.8673 9.3864 14.2050 20.3022 23.0832
3 2.1786 1.8622 1.2407 1.0163 8.5665 14.0778 20.1871 21.1203
4 2.1598 1.9157 1.6584 1.1223 8.9637 13.9684 18.3470 20.1502
5 2.1598 1.8904 1.2346 0.9042 8.8277 13.9557 20.3211 21.0919
6 2.3866 2.0000 1.6584 1.2255 9.2358 14.0120 18.3470 20.1822
7 2.3529 2.0284 1.3966 1.0416 8.7147 14.0271 20.2414 22.1272
8 2.2988 2.2075 1.7212 1.1669 9.4535 14.1272 18.3750 20.1637

Table 4 Experimental data for efficiency and power

Efficiency (%) Power (kW)

Trials R1 R2 R3 R4 R1 R2 R3 R4

1 16.0375 23.0089 24.1636 18.8860 1.120 1.060 0.928 0.846

2 16.5480 22.9054 27.8442 21.1504 1.340 1.280 1.110 0.928
3 15.2479 22.7446 24.8532 22.4577 1.200 1.130 0.988 0.937
4 15.3068 22.2328 26.8735 23.0477 1.240 1.180 1.110 0.962
5 14.8353 21.5533 24.5959 20.3225 1.260 1.200 1.000 0.920
6 17.0160 22.1568 26.8735 24.0080 1.270 1.240 1.110 1.010
7 15.3460 22.1385 25.1962 22.8255 1.310 1.260 1.100 0.990
8 16.6454 24.8572 27.6843 24.0782 1.280 1.230 1.120 0.958

Power consumption is STB type of quality character-
istics (goal is always to have minimum power con-
sumption). For the measured responses, SN ratios
calculated using equations (1) and (2) are presented
in Table 5.
5.2 Computation scheme for L8 OA experiment
The sum of squares is computed by using the compu-
tation scheme [23]. Analysis of variance (ANOVA)
shown in Table 6 is mainly constructed to determine
the significance of each source of variation by arriving
at the variance (Fo) value. Tables 7 and 8 present the
ANOVA calculation from which it is established that
the most significant parameters of impeller are eye
diameter contributing 74.34 per cent followed by
number of vanes 14.26 per cent, both accounting for
88.60 per cent of the pump performance for efficiency.
Eye diameter 49.94 per cent, vane outlet angle 9.45 per
cent, and number of vanes 8.75 per cent are the influ-
ential parameters for improving the head. Control par-
ameters, namely, eye diameter 71.27 per cent and
impeller width 22.10 per cent, significantly influence
the discharge of the centrifugal pump. For minimizing
the power consumption, Taguchi’s DoE-based analy-
sis reveals that the eye diameter 43.35 per cent,
number of vanes 22.56 per cent, and vane outlet
angle 21.58 per cent are the significant control par-
ameters. It is very important to note that the above
conclusions are applicable for the eight trial runs at
the assigned levels for the control variables. However,
there will be no change in the order of the control par-
ameters; the changes will only occur in the percentage
of contribution.

Table 5 Summary of SN ratio calculation

Control factors SN ratio (dB)

Trials A B C D e Discharge Head Efficiency Power

1 1 1 1 1 1 1.2594 22.2305 25.8951 2.0492

2 1 2 2 2 2 2.7124 22.8800 26.4383 0.5955
3 2 1 1 2 2 2.7635 22.3343 26.0925 1.4205
4 2 2 2 1 1 3.8607 22.4024 26.2168 0.9555
5 3 1 2 1 2 2.2666 22.4725 25.6982 1.1418
6 3 2 1 2 1 4.3919 22.5488 26.6704 0.6945
7 4 1 2 2 1 3.3309 22.4541 26.1167 0.6219
8 4 2 1 1 2 4.3579 22.6718 26.8522 0.7587

Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part A: J. Power and Energy JPE184 # IMechE 2006
 Optimizing impeller geometry for performance enhancement 769

Table 6 ANOVA scheme for OA experiments diameter (level 2 for factor B), five vanes (level 2 for
factor C), and 238 of vane outlet angle (level 2 for
Sources Sum Degrees of Mean Variance
of variation of squares S freedom w square S/w F0 factor D); and from Fig. 5, the efficiency is maximum
at 6.5 mm of impeller width (level 4 for factor A),
A SA l21 VA VA/Ve 35 mm of impeller eye diameter (level 2 for factor
B SB m21 VB VB/Ve
C SC n21 VC VC/Ve B), four vanes (level 1 for factor C), and 208 of vane
D SD o21 VD VD/Ve outlet angle (level 2 for factor D). Figure 6 shows
e Se p21 Ve that the power consumption is maximum at
T ST N21
5.0 mm of impeller width (level 1 for factor A),
30 mm of impeller eye diameter (level 1 for factor
B), four vanes (level 1 for factor C), and 208 of vane
Variance (Fo) value is found by dividing the mean
outlet angle (level 1 for factor D).
square of each factor by the mean square of the
error variable considered.
5.4 Summary of the first-phase experimental
5.3 Response curve analysis investigation
Response curves are graphical representations of For many experimental situations in practice, more
change in performance characteristics for the vari- than one response will be measured for different
ation in the process parameter level. These curves combination of values for which a set of design vari-
give a pictorial view of variation of each factor and ables may be taken. When there are several
describe what the effect on the pump performance responses, the optimum condition for one response
would be when a parameter shifts from one level to is not very likely the same as the optimum condition
another. for the other response. Hence, it needs to be dis-
It is clear from Fig. 3 that the discharge is maxi- cussed how to find the overall optimum condition
mum at 6.5 mm of impeller width (level 4 for factor for several responses when employing OA-based par-
A), 35 mm of impeller eye diameter (level 2 for ameter designs. The solution is simultaneous optim-
factor B), four vanes (level 1 for factor C), and 23 8 ization. In this research work, responses, viz., head,
of vane outlet angle (level 2 for factor D); from discharge, efficiency, and power are considered and
Fig. 4, the head is maximum at 6.5 mm of impeller found that each response has different significant
width (level 4 for factor A), 35 mm of impeller eye factors and different optimal levels. To find the

Table 7 ANOVA computation for discharge and head

Discharge Head

Source DOF SS MS F0 r SS MS F0 r

A 3 3.7823 1.2608 18.3256a 22.10 0.0409 0.0163 0.2496 6.36

B 1 4.0657 4.0657 59.0945b 71.27 0.1279 0.1279 1.9585a 49.94
C 1 0.0454 0.0454 0.65990 0.80 0.0224 0.0224 0.3430 8.75
D 1 0.2641 0.2641 3.8387c 4.63 0.0242 0.0242 0.3706 9.45
e 1 0.0688 0.0688 1.21 0.0653 0.0653 25.50
T 7 8.2263 0.2807
a
Most significant.
b
Very most significant.
c
Less significant.

Table 8 ANOVA computation for efficiency and power

Efficiency Power

Source DOF SS MS F0 r SS MS F0 r

A 3 0.1506 0.0502 11.952 5.29 0.4767 0.1589 7.7512 11.09

B 1 0.7052 0.7052 167.9048 74.34 0.6212 0.6212 30.3024 43.35
C 1 0.1353 0.1353 32.2142 14.26 0.3233 0.3233 15.7707 22.56
D 1 0.0537 0.0537 12.7857a 5.66 0.3092 0.3092 15.0829 21.58
e 1 0.0042 0.0042 0.44 0.0205 0.0205 1.43
T 7 1.0490 1.7509
a
Significant. SS, Sum of squares; MS, Mean square; F0, variants; r, contribution in per cent.

JPE184 # IMechE 2006 Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part A: J. Power and Energy
770 M Nataraj and V P Arunachalam

Fig. 3 Response curve for discharge (optimum Fig. 6 Response curve for power (optimum
combination A4B2C1D2) combination A1B1C1D1)

influences two responses at different levels, in

Fig. 4 Response curve for head
combination A4B2C2D2)
overall simultaneous optimum levels for all the
factors involved, simultaneous optimum condition
is adopted for which a summary (Table 9) needs to
be constructed, in which only the level sums of SN
ratios of significant factors appear. For factor B,
head, discharge, efficiency, and power are signifi-
cantly different and the optimum condition is B2.
However, for factor C, two responses are significantly
equal and the optimum condition is C1.
For factor A, only one response is significant and
the corresponding optimum level is A4. Factor D
order to decide which level of factor D is significant;
the computation of the variance and response
tables is referred. However, there was a little con-
fusion prevailing in the comparison while looking
at the response curves for the efficiency and
power consumption. It is obvious from the plotting
that for a small change in the parametric level, the
efficiency response is greater than the power
response. Therefore, level D2, which gives the high-
(optimum est SN ratio, is assigned and chosen for the better
performance of the pump. It is concluded from
the experimental investigation that A4B2C1D2 is
recommended as an optimum parametric com-
bination for the performance enhancement of the
pump. A confirmation test run is conducted for
this parametric combination, which proves that
this prototype pump delivers better results over
the eight trial runs.
5.5 Predicted SN ratio for the overall optimum
condition [25]
SNpredicted þ A 4 þ B 2 þ C 1 þ D
 2  3T (3)

SN ratio for discharge

7:6882 15:3229 12:7727 13:1981

SNdischarge ¼ þ þ þ
2 4 4 4
24:9427
3 ¼ 4:81 dB
8

SN ratio for head

45:1259 90:503 89:7854 90:2172

SNhead ¼ þ þ þ
2 4 4 4
Fig. 5 Response curve for efficiency (optimum 179:994427
3 ¼ 22:69 dB
combination A4B2C1D2) 8

Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part A: J. Power and Energy JPE184 # IMechE 2006
 Optimizing impeller geometry for performance enhancement 771

Table 9 Overall summary table to find optimum condition

SN ratio of
Overall optimum Resulta
Factor Level Discharge Head Efficiency Power

A 1 3.9718 52.3334 2.6447

2 6.6242 52.3093 2.3760
3 6.6585 52.3686 1.8363
4 7.6882 52.9689 1.3806 † A4
B 1 9.6198 89.4914 103.8025 5.2334
2 15.3229 90.5030 106.1777 3.0042 † B2
C 1 105.5102 4.9229 † C1
2 104.4700 3.3147
D 1 11.7446 104.6623 4.9052
2 13.1981 105.3179 3.3324 † D2
a
The recommended overall optimum condition is A4B2C1D2.

SN ratio for efficiency Therefore, 95 per cent CI is found as

52:9689 106:17777 105:5102 ½m  CI , m , ½m þ CI

SNefficiency ¼ þ þ
2 4 4 1:97 , m , 7:65
105:3179 209:9802
þ 3 ¼ 26:99 dB A confirmation test is conducted to check whether
4 8
the obtained optimum condition really produces
SN ratio for power the desired moving-time responses

SNdischarge
1:3806 3:0042 4:9229 3:3324
SNpower ¼ þ þ þ   
2 4 4 4 1 1 1 1 1
¼ 10 log þ þ þ
8:2376 4 2:3422 22 1:6672 1:572
3
8 ¼ 5:236 dB

This value is contained within the 95 per cent of CI,

5.6 First-phase confirmation test
A confirmation experiment is carried out by running
the pump with the impeller at the parametric combi-
nation of A4B2C1D2
The confidence interval (CI) of the above predicted
estimation is calculated by taking into account the
following equation [25].
which means that the optimum condition is con-
firmed by the confirmation test.
Similarly, the actual SN ratio computed from the
measured responses and the predicted SN ratio com-
puted using equations (3) and (4), respectively, are
given below.

rffiffiffiffiffi Predicted range of Actual

a V e Responses SN ratio (95% CI) SN ratio
CI ¼ t fe ; (4)
2 ne
Discharge (lps) 1.97 – 7.65 5.236
5.6.1 Confirmation test for discharge Head (m) 20.10 – 25.28 25.06
Efficiency (%) 23.69 – 30.29 28.84
A 95 per cent CI for the average SN ratio at the Power (kW) 1.286 – 2.117 1.626
optimum condition is calculated

1 1 1 1 1 1 3 7 As all the four responses fall within their predicted

¼ þ þ þ þ  ¼ ranges, this indicates that the pump performance is
ne 2 4 4 4 4 8 8
enhanced and confirms that the experiment results
0:0454 þ 0:0688 are valid.
Ve ¼ ¼ 0:0571
2
6 FIRST-PHASE RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Substituting the values of Ve and ne in the above
equation yields
The hydraulic performance of test pumps is illus-
CI ¼ 4:81 + 2:84 trated by three curves: head flowrate, power flowrate,

JPE184 # IMechE 2006 Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part A: J. Power and Energy
772 M Nataraj and V P Arunachalam

Fig. 7 Pump performance characteristic curves [courtesy: V-Guard Ind. (P) Ltd]

Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part A: J. Power and Energy JPE184 # IMechE 2006
 Optimizing impeller geometry for performance enhancement 773

Fig. 7 (Continued)

JPE184 # IMechE 2006 Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part A: J. Power and Energy
774 M Nataraj and V P Arunachalam

Fig. 7 (Continued)

Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part A: J. Power and Energy JPE184 # IMechE 2006
 Optimizing impeller geometry for performance enhancement 775

Fig. 7 (Continued)

JPE184 # IMechE 2006 Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part A: J. Power and Energy
776
and overall efficiency flowrate. The performance
curves have been worked out on the basis of the
data obtained through the experiments. Figure 7
furnishes the performance characteristic curves of
the newly developed pumps tested at V-Guard. The
maximum discharge at the observed duty point
head of 23.09 m for pump 9 assembled with impeller
whose parameters are optimized using Taguchi’s
quality design concept is 1.27 lps and the overall
efficiency is 25.84 per cent against the declared dis-
charge at the duty point head of 20 m is 1.1 lps and
overall efficiency of 21 per cent. Whereas pumps
1 – 8 assembled with impeller specifications as in
OA (Table 2) did not perform to the expected level
of the optimized pump 9.
7 SECOND PHASE: CFD ANALYSIS
CFD analysis enables to simulate the flow pattern
that is likely to occur at the intended design con-
ditions of the pump and to predict the changes in
the flow pattern encountered in the impeller when
the pump is required to run at other operating
conditions away from the design flow pattern
experimentally. The powerful capacity of the CFD
software developed with flow solver, state-of-the-art
Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part A: J. Power and Energy
M Nataraj and V P Arunachalam
Fig. 7 (Continued)
grid generator, pre- and post-processor has helped
to accelerate the hydraulic design of pump without
going through the route of model development exer-
cise usually followed for designing a new pump.
7.1 Modelling impeller in CFX-build CFD tool
The impeller vane geometry called swept backward
curved form is generated using AutoCAD by plotting
the coordinate points of all the vertices of the fluid
path and transferring to CFX preprocessor for getting
two-dimensional surfaces of the model. Giving thick-
ness extrudes the surface, as the flow through the
impeller is identical in every blade passage; these
similarities of the blade passages simplify the model-
ling by considering a single blade passage for flow
simulation in the complete pump.
7.2 Flow field analysis
By applying the boundary conditions, the flow analy-
sis is executed using CFX-3D flow solver. The final
solution is postprocessed to visualize the flow pat-
tern. The results of the flow field investigation are
presented in terms of stream line, velocity field,
blade surface static pressure distribution, and
JPE184 # IMechE 2006
 Optimizing impeller geometry for performance enhancement 777

absolute frame total pressure distribution for the
impeller passages (Figs 8(a) to (r)). Figures 8(a) to
(q) show the surface static pressure distribution in
the impeller blade passages, which gives an idea of
blade loading. If at all low-pressure regions occur,
then the pressure goes below the vapour pressure
of the liquid. It is verified in this CFX analysis that
the pressure does not go below the vapour pressure.
This static pressure on impeller analysis is carried
out considering the balancing effect of bubble

Fig. 8 Flow field investigations

JPE184 # IMechE 2006 Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part A: J. Power and Energy
778 M Nataraj and V P Arunachalam

Fig. 8 (Continued)

Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part A: J. Power and Energy JPE184 # IMechE 2006
 Optimizing impeller geometry for performance enhancement 779

Fig. 8 (Continued)

JPE184 # IMechE 2006 Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part A: J. Power and Energy
780 M Nataraj and V P Arunachalam

pressure upon the flow property that likely results
during the cavitation phase. The solution arrived
through CFX 5 flow code does contain the cavitation
module to take care of the balancing effect of cavita-
tion bubbles. Figures 8(b) to (r) show the general flow
pattern in the impeller. The relative velocities of the
impeller were found to decrease from the eye to the
outer edge because of the frictional losses in flow
passage between blades. Maximum velocity of the
impeller is found to be in the range shown in
Table 10 and the flow appears to be smooth in all
cases of flow simulation.
7.3 Summary of second phase CFD analysis
In this flow simulation, pump comprising impeller
and diffuser geometries has been analysed together
using one blade passage only as is being done in
other kinds of turbomachinery flow analysis. Per-
formance as a function of flow parameters is evalu-
ated in the form of discharge, head, efficiency, and
power consumption variations. The CFD results
seem to be in good agreement with the experimental
results performed on the actual pumps, thus demon-
strating the capability of CFD tool for flow simulation
in the pump during the design stage itself. The
results of average velocity and pressure distribution
through the vane passage from the eye to the outer
periphery for the flow stream are presented in
Table 10. The quantitative results obtained from
the trials in CFX analysis indicate that pump 9
(assembled with impeller whose specifications
have been optimized through the conduct of DoE)
performs in a superior manner in comparison with
the other pumps for the following obvious reasons.
1. There is a less velocity variation in distribution
from eye to outer edge between the flow passages.
2. The average pressure distribution is also high for
the flow stream starting from active surface to
passive surface of the blade for the optimized
one (1.09 bar).
8 CONCLUDING REMARKS
The tie between D1 and D2 leading to the final choice
of D2 for the optimum impeller geometry resulting
from overall summary table is confirmed as the
right selection from the CFX analysis and Taguchi’s
experimental investigations, as shown in Table 10.
The research study shows that the eye diameter has
a significant role rather than the impeller width in
the pump performance.
The results of the CFD analysis have been com-
pared with the experimental results of the pump
test conducted in hydraulic test laboratory and
found to be in good agreement with each other.
This is a unique advantage of CFD simulation, in
which one can visualize the performance of the
pump during the design stage itself without even
building the physical prototype. In addition, micro-
analysis of flow properties at any point of interest in
the hydraulic passages of the pump could be visual-
ized only with the help of CFD software. The identi-
fication of the point of separation and other kinds of
secondary flow contributing to hydraulic losses
could be controlled by intelligent editing of the
blade profile angles at suitable location. Besides
the flow pattern at design point, the flow data at
the off-duty regime are unique information that pro-
vide a rich insight into the physics of fluid flow in
the blade profile. This information will certainly
help the designer to generate a unique knowledge
base that could further enhance the hydraulic
design quality of the pump. The impeller fabricated
with optimized design specifications assembled in
pump 9 is not found in any of the eight trial runs.
L8 (41  24) OA extends to conducting 64 experi-
ments for optimizing the parameters, which
consume more time and need more investment.
Instead of fabricating 64 impellers, only eight

Table 10 Comparison of results: virtual model analysis versus prototype model analysis
CFX analysis results Experimental results

Average velocity distribution Average pressure

(m/s) distribution (bar) Pump performance

Test pump Inlet Outlet Diff Inlet Outlet Diff Q (lps) TH (m) OAE (%)

1 3.24 2.20 þ1.04 20.5 1.59 1.09 1.11 20.27 23.32

2 2.65 2.13 þ0.52 20.5 1.58 1.08 1.18 21.44 24.79
3 2.55 2.28 þ0.27 20.5 1.59 1.09 1.15 20.86 23.47
4 2.36 2.54 20.18 20.5 1.56 1.06 1.16 21.01 21.16
5 2.62 1.85 þ0.77 20.5 1.64 1.14 1.16 21.05 22.97
6 2.57 2.14 þ0.43 20.5 1.59 1.09 1.17 21.20 22.41
7 2.78 2.03 þ0.75 20.5 1.64 1.14 1.20 21.76 24.10
8 2.42 2.45 20.03 20.5 1.57 1.07 1.17 21.27 21.28
9 2.22 2.25 20.03 20.5 1.59 1.09 1.27 23.09 25.84

Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part A: J. Power and Energy JPE184 # IMechE 2006
 Optimizing impeller geometry for performance enhancement
impellers have been fabricated and test runs are
conducted to find the optimized parameters,
which result in saving huge amount of money and
man-hours.
9 SCOPE FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
In the present work, the control factors restricted to
four only, which can be increased depending upon
the requirements. Only the impeller dimensions are
taken into consideration for evaluating the pump
performance; however, volute design can also be
included for further investigations in future.
A separate software program shall be prepared to
quicken the analytical calculations and experimental
results. Risk analysis of pump components shall be
done to judge the pump performance and also to
reduce the variations in process parameters.
Taguchi’s robust design approach for quality is
implemented for the newly developed pump impel-
ler designed by the Stephen Lazarkiewicz method
only. The same Taguchi’s approach could also be
implemented to assess which of the impeller design
methods [2, 3], namely, the Anderson method, the
Church method, the Karassik method, the Labonoff
method, and the Stepanoff method, could be most
efficient and give better performance in the future
investigations. Also, the present study is done for
the vane profile generated using (circular) single
arc method only. The work shall be extended for
vane profile generated using (circular) double arc
and also point-by-point methods.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors gratefully acknowledge the laboratory
facilities provided by V-Guard Industries (P) Ltd,
Coimbatore for conducting the experiments at their
Hydraulic Pump Testing Division. The authors
are immensely thankful to Abie Abraham, Senior
Deputy Manager and T. Manojkumar, Engineer
(R&D) of V-Guard Industries (P) Ltd, Pump Division,
Cochin for their plentiful cooperation and technical
expertise to design and develop the centrifugal
pump and A. Shanmugasundaram and A. V. Vijaya-
kumar, Engineers – Quality Assurance Department
of V-Guard Industries (P) Ltd, Coimbatore for their
professional skills to get completed the research
work on the newly developed centrifugal pump.
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APPENDIX Subscripts
i replications of measured response
Notation
e error term
b impeller width A, B, C, D control (variables) factors
d impeller eye diameter T total

Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part A: J. Power and Energy JPE184 # IMechE 2006

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