Supersonic jet-pump vacuum generators: combined experimental and numerical investigations for performance improvement

我们的目标是与加拿大工业合作伙伴IVAC合作开发超音速和大型喷射泵。该公司利用喷射泵进行与石油/天然气、采矿和林业等各种行业相关的材料运输。目前，IVAC的喷射泵面临两个主要问题。首先，它们的吸入质量流量没有优化，这增加了泵的运行成本。第二，他们的操作启动期间与不稳定的大振幅声振荡，这可能会导致疲劳和/或产生负面影响的喷射泵performance.The拟议的项目旨在解决上述问题后，由两个硕士生在不列颠哥伦比亚省（UBC）的实验和数值研究。首先，将开发一维气体动力学模型。该模型将作为喷射泵设计的指导原则，并允许最大化吸入流量。然后，根据模型的预测，将在UBC制造实验装置。该装置将配备压力传感器阵列和纹影成像系统。还将制造一个双重压力测量系统，并与工业IVAC系统集成。将测量、比较UBC和IVAC设置的压力数据，并将其作为计算流体动力学模拟的输入。使用这些模拟和纹影图像，高速流的非定常动力学将被研究。使用所产生的知识，喷射泵的设计将被进一步修改，以消除启动期间不稳定声学的负面影响。新设计的喷射泵将使IVAC能够提高材料运输的速度，从而加速使用IVAC喷射泵的加拿大石油/天然气，采矿和林业行业的生产。

We aim to develop supersonic and large-scale jet-pumps in collaboration with our industrial Canadian partner, IVAC. This company utilizes jet-pumps for material transport related to a variety of industries, such as oil/gas, mining, and forestry. Currently, IVAC's jet-pumps face two primary issues. First, their suction mass flowrate is not optimized, which increases the pump operation cost. Second, the startup period of their operation is associated with unsteady large amplitude acoustic oscillations, which may potentially lead to fatigue and/or negatively influence the jet-pump performance.The proposed project aims to address the above issues following both experimental and numerical investigations performed by two Master's students at the University of British Columbia (UBC). First, a one-dimensional gas-dynamics model will be developed. This model will serve as a guideline for the jet-pump design and allows for maximizing the suction flowrate. Then, following the predictions of the model, an experimental setup will be manufactured at UBC. The setup will be equipped with an array of pressure transducers and a Schlieren imaging system. A duplicate pressure measurement system will also be manufactured and integrated with the industrial IVAC system. The pressure data from both the UBC and IVAC setups will be measured, compared, and provided as input for Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations. Using these simulations and Schlieren images, unsteady dynamics of high-speed flows will be studied. Using the generated knowledge, the jet-pump design will be further modified to eliminate the negative impact of unsteady acoustics during the startup period. The newly-designed jet-pump will allow IVAC to increase the speed of material transport, which accelerates production in Canadian oil/gas, mining, and forestry industries that utilize IVAC jet-pumps.