Nuclear Engineering and Technology (Nov 2021)

A cavitation performance prediction method for pumps: Part2-sensitivity and accuracy

  • Long Yun,
  • Zhang Yan,
  • Chen Jianping,
  • Zhu Rongsheng,
  • Wang Dezhong

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 53, no. 11
pp. 3612 – 3624

Abstract

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At present, in the case of pump fast optimization, there is a problem of rapid, accurate and effective prediction of cavitation performance. In “A Cavitation Performance Prediction Method for Pumps PART1 -Proposal and Feasibility” [1], a new cavitation performance prediction method is proposed, and the feasibility of this method is demonstrated in combination with experiments of a mixed flow pump. However, whether this method is applicable to vane pumps with different specific speeds and whether the prediction results of this method are accurate is still worthy of further study. Combined with the experimental results, the research evaluates the sensitivity and accuracy at different flow rates. For a certain operating condition, the method has better sensitivity to different flow rates. This is suitable for multi-parameter multi-objective optimization of pump impeller. For the test mixed flow pump, the method is more accurate when the area ratios are 13.718% and 13.826%. The cavitation vortex flow is obtained through high-speed camera, and the correlation between cavitation flow structure and cavitation performance is established to provide more scientific support for cavitation performance prediction. The method is not only suitable for cavitation performance prediction of the mixed flow pump, but also can be expanded to cavitation performance prediction of blade type hydraulic machinery, which will solve the problem of rapid prediction of hydraulic machinery cavitation performance.

Keywords