ABSTRACT
The major components of the life cycle cost of ownership are initial cost, installation cost, operating cost, and maintenance cost. Laboratory tests on three API end suction pumps, and maintenance data collected on 119 ANSI and split case pumps were used to validate the hydraulic selection reliability indicators. Operating speed affects reliability through rubbing contact, such as seal faces, reduced bearing life through increased cycling, lubricant degradation and reduced viscosity due to increased temperature, and wetted component wear due to abrasives in the pumpage. Design characteristics for both performance and service life are optimized around a rate of flow designated as the best efficiency point. Suction recirculation is a condition where the flow in the inlet portion of an impeller is separated from the vanes and ejected upstream, opposite to the direction of net flow entering the impeller, often well into the suction pipe.
