Is a turbine pump considered a centrifugal pump or a positive displacement pump? Explain?
A centrifugal pump generates its pumping head by centrifugal force “throwing” the fluid against the volute at relatively high velocity. Centrifugal pumps have impellers with specially design vanes connected to a mechanical driver to accomplish this fluid acceleration. A centrifugal pump has a pumping curve that defines its flow output to a specific back pressure at a fixed driver speed. A centrifugal pump also requires net positive suction head (in absolute pressure) NPSHa to suction the liquid from the inlets source. Without said NPSHa, the pump will cavitate. A Positive Displacement (PD) pump generates its pumping head using the non-compressible property of a liquid. The pump moves a specific volume from it’s inlet to its outlet using one or more rotors or pistons connected to a mechanical driver. A PD pump has a fixed flow for a specific driver speed regardless of the system back pressure (note if the back pressure is of sufficient force, the driver will stall or the piping system –
