Theoretical Analysis of Cavitation in Inducers with Unequally Spaced Blades

Abstract

The present paper describes about the effects of the inequality of blade spacing on the steady cavitation and its stability. The development process of the cavity in the cascade with unequally spaced blades is more complex in comparison with that in the cascade with equally spaced blades. The development process can be reasonably explained by the interaction between the local flow near cavity trailing edge and the leading edge of adjacent blade. The minimum cavitation number of the region of stable cavitation can be decreased by unequalizing the blade spacing. Various unstable cavitation appears in low cavitation number where the cavity is longer than the 65% of blade spacing.