Abstract
It has been found in our past studies that the installation of asymmetric plate at the inlet of inducer is effective for the suppression of cavitation surge phenomenon. In the present study, the suction performance of 2-bladed helical inducer with an inlet asymmetric plate is experimentally investigated. It is observed that the suction performance in large flow rate conditions is not largely influenced by the asymmetric plate, whereas the head of inducer with the asymmetric plate increases just before head breakdown in partial flow conditions. The mechanism of this additional head is iscussed by one-dimensional streamtube model, which takes account of the inertia effect as well as cavitation characteristics of inducer such as mass flow gain factor.
