The axial tip clearance leakage analysis of the squealer blade tip for the liquid-ring pump

The gas-liquid two phase leakage flow in the clearance of Liquid ring pump has severe negative impact on its hydraulic performance. In order to analyze the flow structure of leakage flow and suppress it, the squealer blade tip was introduced to Liquid-ring pump. The suppression mechanism of squealer blade tip was analyzed by numerical simulation method. The results show that compared with the prototype pump, the squealer blade tip impeller Liquid-ring pump reduced the total liquid leakage flow by 10.7%, 12.4%, and 13.8% respectively at three working conditions, and increased the inlet vacuum degree by 2.4%, 2.9%, and 4.1% respectively. When the leakage flow flows into squealer, it interacts with the low-speed fluid in the squealer to form the pressure side corner vortex and the squealer vortex. The rotation direction of the pressure side corner vortex is opposite to that of the squealer vortex. There is a strong shear effect between the pressure side corner vortex and the squealer vortex, which blocks the axial clearance flow channel and suppresses the leakage flow. The liquid leakage flow is asymmetrically distributed along the circumferential direction. The squealer blade tip has a certain suppression effect on liquid leakage flow in different zones.