Computational fluid dynamics analysis of diffuser performance in gas-powered jet pumps

Jet pump diffuser performance is analyzed, both in terms of past experimental work dealing with the high inlet flow distortions involved and in the sense that this problem is amenable to predictive investigation by computational fluid dynamics techniques. In these highly nonuniform flow conditions, diffusers are seen to justify their inclusion in a jet pump design, for regaining static pressure downstream of the vacuum chamber, even though their performance in effectiveness terms is lowered by about two thirds at high inlet glow distortion levels. A satisfactory correlation has been found between outlet and inlet conditions and diffuser area ratio, extending well beyond past experimental published results for diffuser geometry and distorted inlet flows.