Simulation of the Flow-Induced Acoustic Vibration and Noise Generation in a Multi-Stage Centrifugal Pump

This article reports a full-scale structural simulation of flow-induced mechanical noise in a 5-stage centrifugal pump. An interior flow field is simulated by a LES-based CFD code individually, which can be found elsewhere. This paper focuses on data interface, and a structural vibration analysis. We developed a data interface tool to enable mesh match as well as data interpolation between fluid and structure meshes. The vibration of a structural portion is simulated using a parallel explicit dynamic FE code, providing the time series of fluctuating pressure on internal surface as force boundary conditions. The calculated vibration of outer surface of the structure agrees reasonably well with measured one. By Fourier transformation, the vibration modes at the blade passing frequencies were extracted and visualized. The simulation clarified the mechanisms of resonant noise generation and propagation.