Experimental and numerical analysis on the characteristics of flow field and precession moment in fluid momentum wheel with driven pump

For the new anti-roll device of the Fluid Momentum Wheel (FMW), the driving pump is necessary to generate the circular circumferential fluid flow in the FMW. In order to evaluate the influence of the pump on the fluid characteristics of the FMW, this paper proposes experimental method based on the Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) technique and numerical method based on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) theory to predict the characteristics of fluid flow, which have been successfully validated through mutual comparison of the two methods. On this basis, the method can be applied in two FMW models with the driving pump or pressure source to comparatively analyze the specific swirl flow caused by the rotating blades of the pump. Moreover, its effects on the phenomena of velocity stratification in circumferential direction and secondary flow in cross-section are further discussed. Then, the study evaluates the characteristics of precession moments of the FMW with a driving pump along different rotation axis. Finally, concluding remarks and future perspectives are presented. •Experimental method of PIV and numerical method of CFD are presented to study FMW with driving pump.•Effects of swirling characteristic by driving pump on stratification distribution and secondary flow are analyzed.•Low-frequency and high-frequency moments of FMW corresponding to pressure gradient and swirl flow are studied.