INTRODUCTION

A fluid machine is a device which converts the energy stored by a fluid into
mechanical energy or vice versa . The energy stored by a fluid mass aears in
the form of otential! "inetic and intermolecular energy. The mechanical
energy! on the other hand! is usually transmitted by a rotating shaft. #achines
using li$uid %mainly water! for almost all ractical uroses& are termed as
hydraulic machines. In this chater we shall discuss! in general! the basic fluid
mechanical rincile governing the energy transfer in a fluid machine and also
a brief descrition of different "inds of hydraulic machines along with their
erformances. Discussion on machines using air or other gases is beyond the
scoe of the chater.
C'A((I)ICAITON( O) )'UID #AC*IN+(
The fluid machines may be classified under different categories as follows,
Classification -ased on Direction of +nergy Conversion.
The device in which the "inetic! otential or intermolecular energy held by the
fluid is converted in the form of mechanical energy of a rotating member is
"nown as a turbine . The machines! on the other hand! where the mechanical
energy from moving arts is transferred to a fluid to increase its stored energy
by increasing either its ressure or velocity are "nown as ums! comressors!
fans or blowers .
Classification -ased on .rincile of Oeration
The machines whose functioning deend essentially on the change of volume
of a certain amount of fluid within the machine are "nown as ositive
dislacement machines . The word ositive dislacement comes from the fact
that there is a hysical dislacement of the boundary of a certain fluid mass as
a closed system. This rincile is utili/ed in ractice by the recirocating
motion of a iston within a cylinder while entraing a certain amount of fluid
in it. Therefore! the word recirocating is commonly used with the name of the
machines of this "ind. The machine roducing mechanical energy is "nown as
recirocating engine while the machine develoing energy of the fluid from the
mechanical energy is "nown as recirocating um or recirocating
comressor.
The machines! functioning of which deend basically on the rincile of fluid
dynamics! are "nown as rotodynamic machines . They are distinguished from
ositive dislacement machines in re$uiring relative motion between the fluid
and the moving art of the machine. The rotating element of the machine
usually consisting of a number of vanes or blades! is "nown as rotor or imeller
while the fi0ed art is "nown as stator. Imeller is the heart of rotodynamic
machines! within which a change of angular momentum of fluid occurs
imarting tor$ue to the rotating member.
)or turbines! the wor" is done by the fluid on the rotor! while! in case of um!
comressor! fan or blower! the wor" is done by the rotor on the fluid element.
Deending uon the main direction of fluid ath in the rotor! the machine is
termed as radial flow or a0ial flow machine . In radial flow machine! the main
direction of flow in the rotor is radial while in a0ial flow machine! it is a0ial. )or
radial flow turbines! the flow is towards the centre of the rotor! while! for
ums and comressors! the flow is away from the centre. Therefore! radial
flow turbines are sometimes referred to as radially inward flow machines and
radial flow ums as radially outward flow machines. +0amles of such
machines are the )rancis turbines and the centrifugal ums or comressors.
The e0amles of a0ial flow machines are 1alan turbines and a0ial flow
comressors. If the flow is arty radial and artly a0ial! the term mi0ed2flow
machine is used. )igure 3.3 %a& %b& and %c& are the schematic diagrams of
various tyes of imellers based on the flow direction.
Classification -ased on )luid Used
The fluid machines use either li$uid or gas as the wor"ing fluid deending uon
the urose. The machine transferring mechanical energy of rotor to the
energy of fluid is termed as a um when it uses li$uid! and is termed as a
comressor or a fan or a blower! when it uses gas. The comressor is a
machine where the main ob4ective is to increase the static ressure of a gas.
Therefore! the mechanical energy held by the fluid is mainly in the form of
ressure energy. )ans or blowers! on the other hand! mainly cause a high flow
of gas! and hence utili/e the mechanical energy of the rotor to increase mostly
the "inetic energy of the fluid. In these machines! the change in static ressure
is $uite small.
)or all ractical uroses! li$uid used by the turbines roducing ower is water!
and therefore! they are termed as water turbines or hydraulic turbines .
Turbines handling gases in ractical fields are usually referred to as steam
turbine! gas turbine! and air turbine deending uon whether they use steam!
gas %the mi0ture of air and roducts of burnt fuel in air& or air.
ROTOD5NA#IC #AC*IN+(
In this section! we shall discuss the basic rincile of rotodynamic machines
and the erformance of different "inds of those machines. The imortant
element of a rotodynamic machine! in general! is a rotor consisting of a
number of vanes or blades. There always e0ists a relative motion between the
rotor vanes and the fluid. The fluid has a comonent of velocity and hence of
momentum in a direction tangential to the rotor. 6hile flowing through the
rotor! tangential velocity and hence the momentum changes.
The rate at which this tangential momentum changes corresonds to a
tangential force on the rotor. In a turbine! the tangential momentum of the
fluid is reduced and therefore wor" is done by the fluid to the moving rotor. -ut
in case of ums and comressors there is an increase in the tangential
momentum of the fluid and therefore wor" is absorbed by the fluid from the
moving rotor.
-asic +$uation of +nergy Transfer in Rotodynamic #achines
The basic e$uation of fluid dynamics relating to energy transfer is same for all
rotodynamic machines and is a simle form of 7 Newton 8s 'aws of #otion7
alied to a fluid element traversing a rotor. *ere we shall ma"e use of the
momentum theorem as alicable to a fluid element while flowing through
fi0ed and moving vanes. )igure 3.9 reresents diagrammatically a rotor of a
generalised fluid machine! with :2: the a0is of rotation and the angular
velocity. )luid enters the rotor at 3! asses through the rotor by any ath and
is discharged at 9. The oints 3 and 9 are at radii and from the centre of the
rotor! and the directions of fluid velocities at 3 and 9 may be at any arbitrary
angles. )or the analysis of energy transfer due to fluid flow in this situation! we
assume the following,
%a& The flow is steady! that is! the mass flow rate is constant across any
section %no storage or deletion of fluid mass in the rotor&.
%b& The heat and wor" interactions between the rotor and its surroundings
ta"e lace at a constant rate.
%c& ;elocity is uniform over any area normal to the flow. This means that the
velocity vector at any oint is reresentative of the total flow over a finite area.
This condition also imlies that there is no lea"age loss and the entire fluid is
undergoing the same rocess.
The velocity at any oint may be resolved into three mutually erendicular
comonents as shown in )ig 3.9. The a0ial comonent of velocity is directed
arallel to the a0is of rotation ! the radial comonent is directed radially
through the a0is to rotation! while the tangential comonent is directed at
right angles to the radial direction and along the tangent to the rotor at that
art.
The change in magnitude of the a0ial velocity comonents through the rotor
causes a change in the a0ial momentum. This change gives rise to an a0ial
force! which must be ta"en by a thrust bearing to the stationary rotor casing.
The change in magnitude of radial velocity causes a change in momentum in
radial direction.
*owever! for an a0isymmetric flow! this does not result in any net radial force
on the rotor. In case of a non uniform flow distribution over the erihery of the
rotor in ractice! a change in momentum in radial direction may result in a net
radial force which is carried as a 4ournal load. The tangential comonent only
has an effect on the angular motion of the rotor. In consideration of the entire
fluid body within the rotor as a control volume! we can write from the moment
of momentum theorem
3.3
where T is the tor$ue e0erted by the rotor on the moving fluid! m is the mass
flow rate of fluid through the rotor. The subscrits 3 and 9 denote values at
inlet and outlet of the rotor resectively. The rate of energy transfer to the fluid
is then given by
3.9
where
is the angular velocity of the rotor and
which reresents the linear velocity of the rotor. Therefore
and
are the linear velocities of the rotor at oints 9 %outlet & and 3 %inlet&
resectively %)ig. 3.9&. The +$! %3.9& is "nown as +uler8s e$uation in relation to
fluid machines. The +$. %3.9& can be written in terms of head gained 8*8 by the
fluid as
3.<
In usual convention relating to fluid machines! the head delivered by the fluid
to the rotor is considered to be ositive and vice2versa. Therefore! +$. %3.<&
written with a change in the sign of the right hand side in accordance with the
sign convention as
3.=
Comonents of +nergy Transfer It is worth mentioning in this conte0t that
either of the +$s. %3.9& and %3.=& is alicable regardless of changes in density
or comonents of velocity in other directions. #oreover! the shae of the ath
ta"en by the fluid in moving from inlet to outlet is of no conse$uence. The
e0ression involves only the inlet and outlet conditions. A rotor! the moving
art of a fluid machine! usually consists of a number of vanes or blades
mounted on a circular disc. )igure 3.<a shows the velocity triangles at the inlet
and outlet of a rotor. The inlet and outlet ortions of a rotor vane are only
shown as a reresentative of the whole rotor.
;ector diagrams of velocities at inlet and outlet corresond to two velocity
triangles! where
is the velocity of fluid relative to the rotor and
are the angles made by the directions of the absolute velocities at the inlet and
outlet resectively with the tangential direction! while
and
and are the angles made by the relative velocities with the tangential
direction. The angles and should match with vane or blade angles at inlet and
outlet resectively for a smooth! shoc"less entry and e0it of the fluid to avoid
undersirable losses. Now we shall aly a simle geometrical relation as
follows,
)rom the inlet velocity triangle!
or
3.>
(imilarly from the outlet velocity triangle.
or
3.?
Invo"ing the e0ressions of
and
in +$. %3.=&! we get * %6or" head! i.e. energy er unit weight of fluid!
transferred between the fluid and the rotor as& as
3.@
The +$ %3.@& is an imortant form of the +uler8s e$uation relating to fluid
machines since it gives the three distinct comonents of energy transfer as
shown by the air of terms in the round brac"ets. These comonents throw
light on the nature of the energy transfer. The first term of +$. %3.@& is readily
seen to be the change in absolute "inetic energy or dynamic head of the fluid
while flowing through the rotor. The second term of +$. %3.@& reresents a
change in fluid energy due to the movement of the rotating fluid from one
radius of rotation to another.