Finite Element Analysis and Improvement of Impeller Blade Geomtery

Abstract

Stratification of water in large reservoirs occurs in summer, or at anytime in hot climates where the water surface is exposed long-term to sunlight and the water surface is heated. Natural mixing will not occur due to the cooler and denser water always staying at the lower levels. Therefore, mechanical circulators are designed to prevent water quality problems related to stratification and depletion of dissolved oxygen. Impellers that produce the flow in mechanical circulators are available in different sizes and these impellers are designed to produce different flow rates. Due to hydraulic loadings, impellers have to be strong and durable. Loadings on impellers depend on their geometries and therefore, a durable impeller is a good combination of the use of correct materials and good geometry. Long and slender impellers are prone to failure when subjected to high hydrodynamic loadings. Nowadays, designers have very limited information on predicting the stresses on impellers and the deflection patterns of impellers because there are no design rules in designing these impeller blades and there is no such thing as "best geometry". A good impeller blade design is by guesswork and experience. In order to design the geometry that suits this application, trial-and-error finite element analyses have been conducted in this project to minimize stress levels on the blades. This research involves the use of finite element analysis (FEA) to predict stress and deflection of impeller blades used on large (5m diameter) ducted axial flow impellers as the first step in the design process. Then, based on the results, improvements have been done to the models until the final design was made. As far as the author has been able to determine, this has not been researched before. Finite Element Analysis has been used on wind turbine blades, rudders and hulls of boats but not on axial flow impeller blades of the type used in this project. For the purpose of this project, commercial finite element computer program packages STRAND6 and STRAND7 were used as the main analysis tools. A static line load increasing linearly with radius along the blade has been used to simulate the assumed hydrodynamic loading, and applied to all FEA blade models. The analysis results proved the stresses on blades are largely dependant on the blade geometry. From the analysis results, the author modified the stacking arrangement of the FEA elements in order to minimize both the tensile stresses and the displacements of the blades at the tip. Parametric studies have been done in order to obtain the best FEA impeller blade model.