Abstract
The hydrodynamic and tribological characteristics of a sucker-rod pump valve assembly with a modified seat equipped with a turbulizer are investigated. The study aims to extend service life by controlling the flow structure and reducing contact loads in the ball–seat pair. A combined approach is employed, integrating computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations with physical experiments. The results show that an increase in turbulence intensity does not lead to a proportional improvement in performance due to energy dissipation; however, an optimal turbulizer geometry is identified that ensures directed swirl flow and efficient transfer of angular momentum. It is established that the theoretical number of ball rotations in oil is 24 over 5 s, whereas the experiment conducted in water yields 30 rotations over the same period, which is attributed to viscosity effects. An empirical relationship is proposed to describe transitions between the “free flow,” “flow with ball,” and “turbulized flow” regimes, taking into account the rheological properties of the fluid; the validity of the model is confirmed by computational experiments. It is demonstrated that reducing contact forces is a more critical factor than maximizing hydraulic efficiency.