Abstract
Various cavitation instabilities such as rotating cavitation, cavitation surge and etc., have been serious problems in developing high-speed turbopump inducer. In the present study, the attempts to suppress the cavitation surge, which has been observed under partial flow conditions in our helical inducers, are made by installing the obstacle plates just upstream of inducer. Two kinds of obstacle plates were used : one of which is to block the flow axi-asymmetrically and make the inlet distortion, being used to examine the suppressive effects of asymmetric inflow on the cavitation surge. The other is a ring-shaped axi-symmetric plate with blockage of 39% passage near tip region to suppress the growth of inlet back flow under partial flow conditions. In this paper, the effects of suggested obstacle plates on the inducer performances and the occurrence of cavitation surge are discussed through the wall pressure measurements and visual observation of cavity behaviors.
