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Suction performance and internal flow of a 2-bladed helical inducer with inlet asymmetric plate

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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 significantly influenced by the asymmetric plate, whereas the head of inducer with the asymmetric plate increases just before the head breakdown in partial flow conditions. To understand the mechanism of this additional head, the flow measurements and the numerical simulations are carried out. It is found that the circumferential component of absolute velocity at the exit of inducer slightly increases with the development of cavitation in both cases with and without the inlet asymmetric plate, indicating the increase of the theoretical head. The theoretical head increase with the inlet asymmetric plate is also confirmed by the unsteady numerical simulations, suggesting that the additional head is achieved through the increase of the theoretical head with the change of the exiting flow from the inducer associated with some amount of cavitation.

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Abbreviations

A :

cross-sectional area of flow passage (m2)

C ps :

static head coefficient

D :

inducer tip diameter (m)

D c :

casing diameter (m)

g :

gravitational acceleration (m/s2)

H :

inducer head (m)

H sv :

net positive suction head (NPSH) (m)

h s :

static head (m)

L :

axial location of plate from leading edge of inducer blade

m :

flow rate normalized by shockless one

N :

rotational speed (rev/min)

Q :

volumetric flow rate (L/min)

T :

time for one revolution of inducer (s)

t :

time (s)

U t :

inducer tip speed (m/s)

V a :

axial velocity (m/s)

V i :

absolute circumferential velocity (m/s)

β t :

tip blade angle (○)

ϕ:

flow coefficient

θ LE :

peripheral location of leading edge (○)

θ p :

peripheral location of measurement (○)

τ :

normalized NPSH

ψ :

head coefficient

ψ th :

theoretical head coefficient

References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kyushu University, 744 Motooka, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka, 819-0395, Japan

    S. Watanabe & K. Ishizaka

  2. Graduate School of Engineering, Kyushu University, 744 Motooka, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka, 819-0395, Japan

    Y. Uchinono

  3. Oita National College of Technology, Oita, Japan

    A. Furukawa

  4. Hyosung Goodsprings Co., Ltd., Seoul, Korea

    J. -H. Kim

Authors
  1. S. Watanabe
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  2. Y. Uchinono
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  3. K. Ishizaka
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  4. A. Furukawa
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  5. J. -H. Kim
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Watanabe, S., Uchinono, Y., Ishizaka, K. et al. Suction performance and internal flow of a 2-bladed helical inducer with inlet asymmetric plate. J. Therm. Sci. 22, 395–403 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11630-013-0641-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11630-013-0641-y

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