Jean-Yves Champagne

The Flow Rate Influence on the Interaction of a Radial Pump Impeller and the Diffuser

This article presents the results of a detailed flow investigation within a centrifugal pump equipped with a vaned diffuser. The measurements were made with a laser Doppler velocimeter and were carried out at different operating points. The flow was investigated for different rotor–stator relative positions.

Separation efficiency of a vacuum gas lift for microalgae harvesting.

Low-energy and low-cost separation of microalgae from water is important to the economics of microalgae harvesting and processing. Flotation under vacuum using a vacuum gas lift for microalgae harvesting was investigated for different airflow rates, bubble sizes, salinities and harvest volumes. Harvesting efficiency (HE) and concentration factor (CF) of the vacuum gas lift increased by around 50% when the airflow rate was reduced from 20 to 10 L min(-1). Reduced bubble size multiplied HE and CF 10 times when specific microbubble diffusers were used or when the salinity of the water was increased from 0‰ to 40‰. The reduction in harvest volume from 100 to 1L increased the CF from 10 to 130. An optimized vacuum gas lift could allow partial microalgae harvesting using less than 0.2 kWh kg(-1) DW, thus reducing energy costs 10-100 times compared to complete harvesting processes, albeit at the expense of a less concentrated biomass harvest.

Optical PIV and LDV Comparisons of Internal Flow Investigations in SHF Impeller

The paper presents a comparison between two sets of experimental results in a centrifugal flow pump. The tested impeller is the so-called SHF impeller for which many experimental data have been continuously produced to built databases for CFD code validations with various levels of approximation. Measurements have been performed using optical techniques: 2D particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique on an air test model and 2D laser doppler velocimetry (LDV) technique on a water model, both for different flow rates. For the present study, results obtained by these optical techniques are compared together in terms of phase averaged velocity and velocity fluctuations inside the impeller flow passage for design flow rate.

Rotor-stator interaction in a centrifugal pump equipped with a vaned diffuser

Abstract This paper provides the results of a detailed flow investigation within a centrifugal pump equipped with a vaned diffuser. The measurements made with a laser Doppler velocimeter were carried out at two operating points. Unsteady velocity measurements obtained in phase with the impeller angular position gave access to the relative flow within the impeller channels. Measurements were obtained in the impeller and the diffuser at different measuring planes relative to the diffuser vanes. Results are presented as animations reconstituting a temporal evolution of the flow permitting a better comprehension of the complex flow structure existing between the two interacting blade rows. The analysis of the relative flow field indicates the presence of a jet wake structure. The wake is characterized by low relative velocities localized in the suction side-shroud corner. At the design flowrate, the presence of the vanes seems to have a limited effect on the impeller flow structure, except when the suction side of the blades is facing the diffuser vanes. At the impeller discharge, the time-resolved sequences show that the mixing process of the unsteady and periodic flow leaving the impeller is affected by the presence of the diffuser.

Drag reduction by pulsed jets on strongly unstructured wake: towards the square back control

Experimental studies have been performed in a wind tunnel in order to control the flow separation on rear window of a generic vehicle shape (the Ahmed body with a scale of 0.7 and a slope angle of 35 degrees). The rear part of the geometry has been modified by replacing the sharp edge between roof and rear window by smooth curved surfaces. This model is equipped at the end of the roof with a strip of pulsed jets in order to control the flow with a velocity of 30 m.s−1. A 20% drag reduction has been obtained with a pulsed frequency at 500 Hz and a momentum coefficient Cµ = 2.75 10−3. This result confirms the interest in using pulsed jets in order to reduce aerodynamic drag and pollutant emission.