Design optimization for the hydraulic efficiency improvement of a mixed-flow pump impeller

In this paper, design optimization for mixed-flow pump impellers has been studied using a commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code and design-of-experiments (DOE). The design variables of meridional plane and vane plane development were defined for impeller design. The blade shape of impeller was designed using traditional method that the inlet and exit angles are connected smoothly. First, the design optimization of the defined design variables for vane plane development was achieved. Next, design optimization of the defined design variables for meridional plane was performed. The objective functions were defined as the total head and total efficiency of the impellers. The importance of the geometric design variables was analyzed using 2k factorial designs, and the design optimization of the geometric variables was determined using the response surface method (RSM). The numerical results for the reference and optimum models were compared and discussed in this work.