A New Approach in Numerical Assessment of the Cavitation Behaviour of Centrifugal Pumps

Abstract

The paper presents a new method for the analysis of the cavitation behaviour of hydraulic turbomachines. This new method allows determining the coefficient of the cavitation inception and the cavitation sensitivity of the turbomachines. We apply this method to study the cavitation behaviour of a large storage pump. By plotting in semi-logarithmic coordinates the vapour volume versus the cavitation coefficient, we show that all numerical data collapse in an exponential manner. By analysis of the slope of the curve describing the evolution of the vapour volume against the cavitation coefficient we determine the cavitation sensitivity of the pump for each operating point.