Parametric study of structural influences on suction performance in an Annular Jet Pump—CFD and experimental validation

Abstract

Efficient suction is crucial in industrial applications like slurry transport and fluid handling. This study investigates the structural influences of primary fluid's volumetric flow rate, convergence angle, and throat diameter on the suction performance of an Annular Jet Pump (AJP). Numerical simulations using the Realizable k-ε turbulence model in a Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) framework is validated experimentally. Experiments are conducted to validate the numerical simulation, and a comparison is drawn between those, revealing acceptable variation from the current CFD model. This work validates the Realizable k-ε turbulence model for accurately predicting flow dynamics, offering a robust framework for designing energy-efficient and high-performance Annular Jet Pumps in industrial applications. The CFD results closely align with experimental data, with a mean absolute error (MAE) of 1.71 kPa and a root mean square error (RMSE) of 2.02 kPa, corresponding to deviations of 4.6–5.5 %. Optimizing the convergence angle (27°) and throat diameter (10 mm) yielded AJP's improved suction capacity at a flow rate of 10 m3/h, demonstrating the design's efficacy. Compared to literature benchmarks, the pump's efficiency reached 34 % within a flow ratio range of 0.4–0.6, confirming robust performance. These findings validate the AJP's design for industrial applications and provide insights for future multiphase flow studies involving slurries.