The Rotating Cavitation Performance of a Centrifugal Pump with a Splitter-Bladed Inducer under Different Rotational Speed

Abstract

AbstractDesigning inducer is one of the effective ways to improve the suction performance of high-speed centrifugal pumps. The operation condition including rotational speeds can affect the internal flow and external performance of high-speed centrifugal pumps with an inducer. In order to clarify the rotating cavitation performance of a centrifugal pump with a splitter-bladed inducer under different rotational speed, a centrifugal pump with a splitter-bladed inducer is investigated in the work. By using Rayleigh–Plesset equations and Mixture model, the cavitation flow of centrifugal pump is numerically simulated, as well as the external performance experimental test is carried out. It is found that the cavitation area increases with the rotational speeds. The location of the passage where cavitation is easy to appear is explored. Asymmetric cavitation behavior is observed. That, the trail of the inducer is easy to take cavitation when the rotational speed is increased to a degree, is also observed. The trend of