Investigation of a Venturi as a pump application to an Antarctic Sublimation system

The aim of this thesis was to investigate the operation of a venturi as a pump and to extend the work of a previous study. The study was applied to a sublimation chamber built as a trial at Davis Station in the Antarctic which used a venturi style pump to circulate air through the chamber. The investigation consisted of testing the effect of different venturi geometries using a model built previously in the wind tunnel. An attempt was made to verify these results using a finite element analysis program. Testing of four different diffuser sections showed that 7 degrees was the ideal diffuser angle for a venturi used for this purpose. investigation showed that the power obtained from the venturi was significantly lower than that obtained from similar sized wind turbines. It was however recognised that the venturi was more suited to this type of application due to it having no moving parts and therefore being more robust than similar sized wind turbines. The main suggestion arising from this report was that should further improvement be necessary in the chamber design, the incorporation of a wind turbine into the design should be investigated.