Performance prediction of kinetic and screw pumps delivering slurry

Transporting slurry is a difficult task and industries use a kinetic or centrifugal pump or a screw or progressive cavity pump to deliver it. On the other hand, approximation models can help predicting performance and avoiding the expensive experiments of pumps with slurries. In this work, bentonite-based slurries were prepared and pumped by a centrifugal pump and a progressive cavity pump. The experimental facilities were developed in-house and artificial neural network-based approximation models were developed to predict performances. The approximation models say that it can eliminate the expensive testing to draw performance curve a pump. The relative merits of the pumps show that the progressive cavity pump has a better capability to handle the slurries or high viscosity fluids.