Mechanics of wear, and its effect on the hydraulic performance of conventional centrifugal pumps

摘要

Numerous studies have shown that, over the lifetime of a pump, the cost of maintenance substantially exceeds its first cost. Owners naturally want to reduce this value and this helps focus on the mechanisms of wear within a pump. The same wear effect levels will appear as a flow reduction in certain systems, yet seem to be a pressure reduction in another. The "apparent" wear rate is actually dependent upon both the system characteristics into which the pump has been placed, as well as the pump curve shape. After eliminating this powerful variable, wear behaviour then generally falls into a narrow range of root causes. These causes can co-exist in various proportions and can often seem incomprehensible to the user. This paper attempts to describe the major mechanisms of wear in centrifugal pumps, the effects they cause, and some methods of combating them.