A significant variation in particle size distribution (PSD) is generally encountered in slurry transportation. The goal of this work is to establish the effect of variation in PSD on the centrifugal slurry pump (CSP) performance and particle kinetics. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling of a CSP with multi-size particulate slurry has been performed with a sliding mesh approach using the granular Eulerian-Eulerian model. The numerical model is validated with the experimental data of the pump performance for multi-size particulate fly ash slurry. The maximum deviations in the predicted head and efficiency compared to the measured values are of the order of ±2% and ±3.5%, respectively. Simulations with a single representative particle size for multi-size particulate slurry using median and weighted mean diameter approach are also carried out to understand the difference in performance prediction with equi-size and multi-size slurry. The predicted trend of pump performance variation with PSD is linear and non-linear with equi-size and multi-size slurries, respectively. The median and weighted mean approaches showed error in capturing the effect of variation in PSD on pump performance. The variation in PSD significantly affects the flow of particles inside the impeller and casing flow passages due to particle kinetics. Reduction in the intensity of granular pressure, maximum granular viscosity, and the head loss due to friction in impeller and casing flow passages are found with the increase in the fine size particles.

在浆料运输中通常会遇到粒径分布（PSD）的显着变化。这项工作的目的是确定PSD的变化对离心式渣浆泵（CSP）性能和颗粒动力学的影响。已使用颗粒Eulerian-Eulerian模型通过滑动网格方法对具有多尺寸颗粒浆液的CSP进行了计算流体动力学（CFD）建模。该数值模型通过多尺寸颗粒粉煤灰浆泵性能的实验数据进行了验证。与测量值相比，预测扬程和效率的最大偏差分别约为±2％和±3.5％。还进行了使用中值和加权平均直径方法对多尺寸颗粒浆液使用单一代表性粒径的模拟，以了解等尺寸和多尺寸浆液性能预测的差异。带有PSD的泵性能变化的预测趋势分别是等尺寸和多尺寸浆料时呈线性和非线性。中位数和加权均值方法在捕获PSD变化对泵性能的影响时显示出错误。由于颗粒动力学，PSD的变化会显着影响叶轮和外壳流道内部的颗粒流动。随着细颗粒的增加，发现了颗粒压力强度的降低，最大颗粒粘度的降低以及由于叶轮和壳体流道中的摩擦而导致的水头损失。