Experimental study on effects of air injection on cavitation pressure pulsation and vibration in a centrifugal pump with inducer

Abstract

AbstractCavitation commonly induces performance deterioration and system vibration in many engineering applications. This paper aims to investigate the effects of air injection on cavitation evolution, pressure pulsation and vibration in a centrifugal pump with inducer. In this paper, the high-speed camera is used to capture the gas flow pattern and cavitation evolution process in the inducer. The impacts of air injection on the inlet pressure pulsation and vibration are also investigated. The results show that the cavitation development in the inducer undergoes four patterns: incipient cavitation, sheet cavitation, cloud cavitation and super cavitation. As the cavitation becomes more severe, the main frequency of the pressure pulsation shifts to lower frequencies, and the amplitude of the vibration increase. In addition, air injection promotes the incipient cavitation but delays the cavitation development. A small amount of air makes cavity shed with small-scale clusters. Meanwhile, it can effectively decrease amplitudes of pressure pulsation and vibration. As the air content increases, the fluctuations and amplitudes of pressure pulsation and vibration increase.