A jet pump utilizes Bernoulli`s principle in order to convey energy from a high pressure motive fluid to a driven fluid in the form of kinetic energy (figure 1). Nowadays, jet pumps are used in a variety of fields, e.g. as a means to deliver slurries, granular mixtures, corrosive fluids and more. Jet pumps can also be found in a multiphase configuration, where a suction chamber is added utilizing the pressure drop near the converging nozzle outlet. The motive fluid in such pumps is typically water and the driven fluid is usually air. These pumps are used mainly for the desalination industry as well as for oxidizing water tanks, skimming and more. At the conference, a new jet pump configuration will be presented (patented). A hole was drilled through the mixing chamber through which a small air pipe was inserted, whilst the other end of the pipe was open to the atmosphere. An experimental apparatus was constructed where the jet pump is situated inside a water tank. By utilizing the Venturi effect, air was sucked into the mixing chamber resulting in a multiphase bubbly flow. In order to find the best geometrical configuration for the air pipe, a series of jet pumps was printed by using 3D printing technology. The results show a major difference in performance between the different pumps (ratio of air flow rate to supplied power). Finally, to explain the physical phenomena causing those changes, a 3D CFD simulation was conducted using Ansys Fluent.
Figure 1: A single phase jet pump
