Centrifugal pumps: Which suction specific speeds are acceptable? Recent studies indicate suction specific speed can be related to pump reliability. But which suction specific speeds are acceptable? This article helps answer that question based on a five year study of 480 refinery pumps J.L. Hallam, Amoco Oil Co., Texas City, Texas SUCTION SPECIFIG SPEED is an important consider- ation when purchasing or analyzing centrifugal pumps. There is a direct correlation between this parameter, pump reliability and maintenance expenses. This arti- le will demonstrate that in a large Gulf Goast oil refin ery, centrifugal pumps with a suction specific speed greater than 11,000 failed at a frequency nearly twice that of centrifugal pumps with suction specific speed less than 11,000, Defining suction specific speed. Suction specific speed (5) is used 10 aid in describing, hydrodynamic conditions existing in the eye of a centrifugal pump. S, may be defined best by the equation: rpm VQ (NPSHR)"® Where: rpm. sm at which pump curve was generated Q Flowrate at best efficiency point (BEP) BEP is usually at maximum diameter im- peller. Divide this by twoif the impeller is, double-suetion. Measured in gpm. NPSHR NPSH required at best efficiency point (BE). BEP is usually at maximum diam- eter impeller. Measured in fi 5, is defined only at the pump’s best efficiency point (BEP). In conjunction with flowrate and with reference to the BER it may be used as an aid in comparing pumps to determine which will perform best A centrifugal pump impeller witha high S, hasa large impeller eye or an inlet vane angle, B, such that the impeller is susceptible to inlet eye recirculation. At flow- rates other than the BER, fluid entering the eye of the high 5, impeller is less likely to match correctly the mpeller inlet vane angle. Hence, inlet recirculation jortices in the eye of the pump) and hydrodynamic cavitation (separation cavitation resulting from hydro- dynamic turbulence) result. The final result is a pump which probably will experience more bearing, seal, shaft and impeller failures. Several very interesting papers have been written’ during the las few years discussing problems regarding suction specific speed. Generally, the consensusis that cavitation is not always a lack of adequate NPSHA. ‘Actually, hydrodynamic cavitation and inlet eye recircu- lation problems may have been diagnosed wrongly as classical cavitation. These problems have not improved when a similar pump, but with a lower NPSHR, was used to replace a pump that appeared to be cavitating. The reason the problems will remain is that if the other parameters in the equation are held constant, the result- ing suction specific speed number will be higher when the NPSHRis lowered. If suction specific speed remains high, hydrodynamic cavitation and inlet eye recircula- tion will still occur, This will be demonstrated later in this article with related acceptable and unacceptable ranges. Recirculation at the inlet eye of the pump is not the same as impeller discharge recirculation. Impeller inlet recirculation is predictable by calculating S, and deter- mining where the pump will operate on its curve. On the other hand, discharge recirculation is not easily predictable but may be reduced substantially by main- taining impeller tip to case clearances within certain limits. Itis the opinion of the author that there is some relationship between suction and discharge recircula- tion since vortices in the eye of an impeller possibly Hydrocarbon Processing, Apri 1982 195ocreastng tow [cenafan agai aalgicat LS Fig. {Section trough a single suction impeller indicaing recrula- tion atthe let curing operation at low capacities. could induce recirculation at the discharge. A 1 phenomenon, sometimes called recirculation, is the flow of fluid from the impeller discharge back to the suction through the wear ring clearances. This should be referred to as “wear ring leakage” and is normal for any pump. Determining suction specific speed. Calculating S, is easily done by looking at the pump’s family of curves for the necessary information. First, determine the BEP from the family of curves. This is the point at which the pump was designed to operate and is usually at the maximum diameter impeller: The flowrate and NPSHR at BEP should be taken from the curve for use in the equation shown previously. Ifthe pump impeller is double suction, divide the flowrate by two, since flow- rate actually passing through each individual impeller eyeis the information required for the equation. After incorporating the rpm from the curve, a number be- tween 7,000 and 15,000 probably will result. The num- ber may be lower or higher, but for a centrifugal impeller, this is relatively uncommon. ‘Two important points to remember are: (1) The suction specific speed of a pump is defined only at its best efficiency point (BEP); (2) 5, is a relative term and should be used in conjunction with the percent BEP (actual operating flowrate relative to flowrate at BEP) when comparing centrifugal pumps. Engineers with experience analyzing pumps will real- ize quickly that S, resembles the specific speed number (N,) used by pump designers in choosing impellers. The two should not be confused. N, uses the differential head provided by the pump in its denominator. S, uses NPSHRat BEP Italso should be noted that pumps with impellers for which N, is greater than 3,000 are not the subject of this paper, since they are not true centrifugal impellers, 196 Hydrocarbon Processing, April 1982 Mechanical problems associated with suction : cific speed. Pumps with 5, less than 11,000 may ‘operated over a much wider range of flowrates before encountering problems. Pumps with S, greater than 11,000 usually should not be operated at owrats less than 60 t0 70 percent BEP because of impeller inlet eye recirculation problems (Fig. 1). At low flowrates, NPSHR may seem to be much higher than indicated by the pump curve because of inlet eye recirculation and, hydrodynamic cavitation. If the pump is operated at low flowrates, it may experience: Impeller and case erosion © Shafi deflection and stress ‘© Radial and thrust bearing failures # Seal problems. Evidences of inlet recirculation and hydrodynamic cavitation problems during operation are: ‘# Suction pressure gage fluctuations © Noisy operation © High vibration at low flowrates. Just because a pump hasa S, greater than 11,000 does, not necessarily mean it will experience suction problems. or excessive mechanical failures. If the pump always operates near BEB itmay operate as well asa pump with alow S,. This is because the pump is designed for flow conditions at BEP. In reality, in a refinery or petro- chemical complex, pumps that run continuously at their BEP are not very common, making the purchase of pumps with a S, less than 11,000 desirable. Hydrodynamic cavitation problems that exist when the pump is operating at points below BEP may be supressed_ partially if NPSHA is much higher than NPSHR. This may help the impeller, but it won't do much for the bearings and seals. Papers by Nelson!, Taylor?, Lobanof®, and Karassik! are highly recommended for anyone wanting to re- search this subject further. These discuss the problems of poor vane angle attack, pump NPSHR inconsisten- cies and, in general, problems resulting from improper choice of pumps with regards to S, Choosing pumps. Choosing a pump that will best be suited for service in a refinery or petrochemical plant is not always simple. For years pumps were purchased on a basis of efficiency and initial cost. In addition to these yrameters, we should now consider pump reliability Ehdithe/ high ‘cost oF taaintenaace: Ther purchaser should be aware that a low NPSHR pump also may ‘mean a high suction specific speed and its correspond- ing problems. Saving money by building a tower closer to ground level and buying a lower NPSHR pump with a correspondingly high S, in reality may not be good. economics. In addition, purchasing a pump with a high efficiency actually may be a poor investment if it has a high S,. Since most pumps in a petrochemical plant or oil refinery will be used with varying flowrates, itis best to stay with aS, less than 11,000, This will assure better ‘operation and reduce the likelihood of major failures and the possibilty of fires Comfirming 11,000 as a bench mark. Experts in both the manufacturing and petrochemical industries agree that 5, is a valid criterion, The question remaining is,“what is acceptable and what is unacceptable?” The pump survey that is the subject of this paper was per- formed on 480 centrifugal pumps over a period of five years in a large Gulf Goast refinery, It provided data to support 11,000 asa good bench mark for, Initially, the survey conducted in the refinery was for the purpose of developing a procedure for quickly and easily analy pump failures in light of their hydraulic and mechanics status. In time, however, it became apparent that S, was playing a major role in the failure frequency of pumps throughout the plant, regardless of the service or horse- power. The decision was made to study closely the rela- tionship between S, and the frequency with which the pumps failed. The key to this study was gathering good histories on all centrifugal pumps over an extended period of time, Fortunately, every pump worked on in the refinery’s shop has a very well documented report ‘These reports were gathered for almost all centrifugal pumps throughout the plant for a period of five years. Itwas felt that a minimum of five years was necessary to give a meaningful survey. ‘The process units surveyed for this study comprised the majority of the refinery’s units and therefore in- cluded all types of processes. No single unit contained an unusually high concentration of pumps of any one S, range. Each unit seemed to have a fair representation of almost all S, ranges. The majority of the 480 pumps were pumping hydrocarbons and the remainder pumped water. There were no pumps over 1,000 hp with the average horsepower being around 150 hp. No large boiler feedwater pumps or pumps with axial flow (high specific speed, N.) impellers were included. Assuming 70 percent of the pumps were operating at any given time during the preceding five years, about 15 million running hours were observed for compat son. S,, percent BEP, NPSHR and NPSHA were deter- mined in the field and from the pump curves. The information was assembled and compared, Of the origi- nal 488 pumps, eight were eliminated as being unfair representations. These were eliminated because, of the total of 1,881 failures recorded by the original 488 pumps over a period of five years, these eight pumps accounted for almost 200 or 10 percent of the failures. Itis interesting to note, however, that all eight of these pumps had an S, of at least 10,800. ‘The remaining 480 pumps were compared sch ona basis of the number of failures suffered during the five year period divided by five to give a failure frequency ona per year per pump basis. A failure may be defined as any problem with the pump, not the driver, that causes it to be shutdown and shopped. These may be bearing, seal, shaft or impeller problems. Normal unit shutdowns of fire damage are not included. We did not About the author Janey L, HALLAM is a rotating equipment ‘engineer for Amoco Oil Company, Texas City, ‘Texas. His experience includes service as both 4a project and maintenance engineer for Pil: lips Petroleum. He isa licensed engineerin the state of Texas and a graduate of the Unt versity of Houston with a BS. degree in me chanical engineering 8 Nee: No ot pimps in'bach rage shown pareihesee | 0 | oo | wa | co | ca | co ep | a | | or A 81 : dete] 2] [1] p &}| (8) | (81 121) le el 5 § {lat | 15)/ 181] (et) Bh It ‘Suction spec spoes anges (S) Fig. 2—Failure frequency vs. suction specific speed. try and differentiate between failures since a trend in failure frequency was being sought and any attempt to analyze failures was subject to the judgment of the rec- ord writers, In addition, close study of each and every failure would require an inordinate amount of time. It ‘must be realized that some of the pumps in the sample operate close to their BEP while others do not. Some have a good NPSHA to NPSHR ratio, whereas others have a poor ratio. ‘The sample group was broken into eight sub-groups. ‘These are shown in Fig. 2. Each of these eight sub- groups represented an incremental S, of 1,000. As one observes the graph, several things become apparent A very definite trend appears. Both below and above 11,000, the pumps seem to bbe experiencing a rather consistent failure frequency. © The increase in failure frequencies took a very dra- matic jump at 11,000. ‘The relatively constant rate of refinery pump failures under 11,000 suggests that a pump purchased for hy- drocarbon service with a S, less than 11,000 probably will experience a failure rate of approximately 0.5 fail- ures per pump per year. Above 11,000, it may fail with a frequency of about 0.9 failures per pump per year: Since the total number of pumps included in the survey above and below 11,000is reasonably equal, we feel that this information is significant and accurate. Conclusion. This study indicates that caution should be exercised when purchasing hydrocarbon or small water pumps with a S, greater than 11,000 unless operation is closely controlled near BEP [fits not possible to avoid a high S, number and the process cannot be controlled closely, a bypass with a cooler may be used to keep the pump near BEP. This study consisted primarily of hy- drocarbon pumps with an average horsepower of 150 hp. Results may vary some from those found if high ‘energy water pumps are studied. iRueoseeitah eet Sha het Kata "hon romp ae an Be pNP Na sen a Stobemat, oe ee Ge Pa od Fac Wk" te Popo NH a Semody, Of, “Survey of Feed Pap age Bsc Hower cuca PEN, Rear Pg, Apt 1 z Hydrocarbon Processing, Apri1962. 197