Chapter 4

Chapter 4
Axial Flow Pump

Introduction
• An axial flow pump is one in which the fluid enters parallel to the
axis of rotation and leaves in the axial tangential plane.
• For many applications, such as those associate with drainage and
irrigation, high flow rate at low head are required.
Centrifugal pumps are not suitable.
Axial-flow pumps are commonly used.
• Axial-flow pump, consists of a propeller confined within a
cylindrical casing, is often called propeller pump.
• Schematic diagram of an axial-flow pump arranged for vertical operation.
A rotor is connected to a motor

through a shaft.
As the rotor rotates the fluid is
sucked in through the inlet.
Centrifugal Pump vs. Axial-Flow Pump
• At design capacity (maximum

efficiency), the head and
brake horsepower are the
same for the two pumps.
• As the flow rate decreases, the
power input to the centrifugal
pump falls to 180 hp at
shutoff.
Centrifugal Pump vs. Axial-Flow Pump
• Whereas for the axial-flow pump the power input increases
to 520 hp at shutoff.
• The axial-flow pump can cause overloading of the drive
motor if the flow rate is reduced significantly from the
design capacity.
• The head curve for the axial-flow pump is much steeper
than that of the centrifugal pump.
• Except at design capacity, the efficiency of the axial-flow
pump is lower than that o the centrifugal pump.
• The advantage of an axial flow pump is its compact
construction as well as its ability to run at extremely high
speeds. The flow area is the same at inlet and outlet and the
minimum head for this type of pump is the order of 20 m.
Axial Flow Pump Applications
Pumps used for high flow and low head
• Flood Control
• Agricultural Irrigation
• Raw Water Intake at Water Treatment Plant
• Raw Water Intake at Coal-Fired Power Plant
Components
There are two components
• Rotating (impeller/rotor)
• Stationery (guide vane, casing)
• The propeller type impeller running in a casing with fine
clearances between the blade tips and the casing inner wall.
• The inlet guide vanes guide the fluid to enter the rotor with a
purely axial velocity.
• The impeller blades, however impart a whirl component to the
fluid
• The outlet guide vanes eliminate the swirl on the outlet side and
turn the new towards the axis
• It is often mounted in a pipe or duct and the fluid passes in axial direction
through the pump;
• It is not deflected away from the axis as with centrifugal pumps.
• The impeller consists of a number of blades attached to a central hub.
• The cross section of the blades are in aero foil form (aeroplane wing) and
the relative flow pattern is in many ways similar to flow around the wing of
an aircraft.
• Due to the pressure increase on the concave side of the blade, an upthrust is
produced by the flow which diminishes the torque to be applied on the
pump shaft.
• The fluid is not accelerated by centrifugal forces since it passes axially
through the impeller and therefore tangential velocity of the impeller does
not change for a given stream filament between inlet and outlet (u 1 = u2)
• no real channel flow between blades is formed as with centrifugal
pumps; hence, transformation of kinetic energy into pressure due to
expansion of channel cross sectional area does not take place with
axial flow pumps;
• similarly the blades are not much curved and deflection of flow is
small.
• For these reasons, the total head increase for axial flow pumps is
small compared to centrifugal pumps
• Energy transfer takes mainly place through the tangential
acceleration of the fluid due to the impact of the impeller which can
be seen by the fact that the fluid leaves the impeller in a vortex (c 2
is not in axial direction).
• The
blade has an airfoil
section
• u1 = u 2 =
THE WORK DONE ON THE FLUID

• Applying the momentum principle on the axial flow pump leads to
the same Euler Equation as derived for a radial-type impeller:
• But, U1=U2 and Cx1=0 (provided that the fluid approaches the
impeller whirl free)
• the Euler Equation for axial flow pumps reduces to:
• Note that this equation only applies for one specific radius since U
certainly varies with radius and cx2 may also change
•E can be given in terms of beta 2
Solving for
Therefore the energy transferred is given by:
In order to keep E constant the angle beta 2 must be increased

because the value of U is increasing with radius.
• In order to estimate the performance of the impeller, it is necessary
to integrate between hub and tip (in practice a mean radius may be
chosen as the representative flow pattern for the whole pump or a
few sections are computed and then summed up).
• For each specific radius, shape and angle of the blade may be
optimized which results in the twisted blades often installed in
axial flow pumps.
• The blade angle Beta2 is usually between 30 and 45 for axial flow
pumps pumping water.
• Inferior to centrifugal pumps in total head, axial flow pumps are
applied for low head installations where large quantities can be
pumped at good efficiencies (large flows imply high velocities
and consequently increase losses in the pump; due to the short and
relatively straight flow pattern, losses in an axial flow pump are
much smaller than in a comparable centrifugal pump of the same
discharge).
• Mixed flow pumps, lift and at the same time accelerate the water.
They are used for intermediate lifts over a wide range of flow
rates. The design theory is similar to centrifugal pumps since no
aerofoil effects are involved.
Pump losses
The following are the various losses occurring during the operation of a
pump.
1. Eddy losses at entrance and exit of impeller, friction losses in the
impeller, frictional and eddy losses in the diffuser, if provided.
2. Losses in the suction and delivery pipe. The above losses are known
as hydraulic losses.
3. Mechanical losses are losses due to friction of the main bearings,
and stuffing boxes. Thus, the energy supplied by the prime mover to
impeller is equal to the energy produced by impeller plus
mechanical losses. A number of efficiencies are associated with
these losses.
AXIAL PUMP CHARACTERISTICS
Dimensionless quantities for Turbo machineries
Specific Speed and Specific Diameter
Specific speed is a useful pi term obtained by eliminating diameter D
between the low coefficient and the head rise coefficient

=
• Specific speed varies with flow coefficient just as the other coefficients
and efficiency.
• For any pump it is customary to specify a value of specific speed at the
flow coefficient corresponding to peak efficiency only.
following few dimensionless terms are useful in the analysis
•The
of incompressible fluid flow machines:
• The flow coefficient and speed ratio: is called the flow
coefficient or specific capacity and indicates the volume flow
rate of fluid through a turbomachine of unit diameter runner,
operating at unit speed. It is constant for similar rotors.
• The head coefficient: . It is the kinetic energy of the fluid
spouting under the head H divided by the kinetic energy
of the fluid running at the rotor tangential speed. It is
constant for similar impellers.
• Power
coefficient or specific power:- It shows the relation
between power, fluid density, speed and wheel diameter.
• Specific speed: The most important parameter of

incompressible fluid flow machinery is specific speed. It is the
non-dimensional term. All turbomachineries operating under
the same conditions of flow and head having the same
specific speed, irrespective of the actual physical size of the
machines
OR
• The specific speed parameter expressing the variation of all the
variables N, Q and H or N,P and H, which cause similar flows in
• For
centrifugal/axial pump to deliver fluid the pressure
developed by impeller must be equal or greater than
monomeric head (Hm).
Examples
• An axial flow pump has the following particulars: discharge 180 l/s,
head developed= 2m, specific speed = 250, speed ratio = 2.4. flow
ratio = 0.5. Calculate (a) speed of the pump (b) the runner diameter
(c)the boss diameter.
• The specific speed of an axial flow pump impeller is 1150 and velocity
of flow is 2.5 m/s. The outer and inner diameters of the impeller are
0.90 m and 0.45 m, respectively. Calculate the suitable speed of the
pump to give a head of 5.5 m. Also, calculate vane angle at the entry
of the pump.
• A certain axial-flow pump has a specific speed of 5. If the pump is
expected to deliver 3000 m3/m when operating against a 15 m head, at
what speed or rpm should the pump be run?
• The impeller of an axial flow pump is 1.2 m in diameter while the boss
is 0.6 m in diameter. Find the most suitable speed to provide a head of
2.5 m. The velocity of flow through the impeller is 4.5 m/s and the
specific speed of the pump is 335 rpm. Find also the vane angle at inlet
at the exterior lips and near the boss. Assume no whirl at inlet.
• An axial flow pump discharges water at the rate of 1.30m 3/s
and runs at 550 rpm. The total head is 10 m. Assume blade
velocity is 22 m/s, the flow velocity is 4.5 m/s, hydraulic
efficiency is 0.87, and the overall pump efficiency is 0.83, find
(1) the power delivered to the water, and power input, (2) the
impeller hub diameter and tip diameter, and (3) the inlet and
outlet blade angles for the rotor.

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Chapter 4

Axial Flow Pump

A rotor is connected to a motor

• At design capacity (maximum

Therefore the energy transferred is given by:

In order to keep E constant the angle beta 2 must be increased

• Speciﬁc speed: The most important parameter of

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