Abstract
Installing an inducer upstream of the main impeller is an effective approach for improving the anti-cavitation performance of a highspeed centrifugal pump. For a high-speed centrifugal pump with an inducer, the number of inducer blades can affect its internal flow and external performance. We studied the manner in which the number of inducer blades can affect the anti-cavitation characteristics and external performance of a centrifugal pump. We first use the Rayleigh-Plesset equation and the mixture model to simulate the vaporliquid flow in a centrifugal pump with an inducer, and then predict its external performance. Finally, we tested the external performance of a centrifugal pump with 2-, 3-and 4-bladed inducers, respectively. The results show that the simulations of external performance in a centrifugal pump are in accordance with our experiments. Based on this, we obtained vapor volume fraction distributions for the inducer, the impeller, and in the corresponding whole flow parts. We discovered that the vapor volume fraction of a centrifugal pump with a 3-bladed inducer is less than that of a centrifugal pump with 2-or 4-bladed inducers, which means that a centrifugal pump with a 3-bladed inducer has a better external and anti-cavitation performance.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Y. D. Choi, J. Kurokawa and H. Imamura, Suppression of cavitation in inducers by J-grooves, ASME J. Fluids Eng., 129 (1) (2007) 15–22.
X. M. Guo, Z. C. Zhu, B. L. Cui and Y. Li, The rotating cavitation performance of a centrifugal pump with a splitterbladed inducer under different rotational speed, Int. J. Turbo Jet Eng., 9 (3) (2015) 275–283.
X. M. Guo, L. H. Zhu, Z. C. Zhu, B. L. Cui and Y. Li, Numerical and experimental investigations on the cavitation characteristics of a high-speed centrifugal pump with a splitter-blade inducer, J. of Mech. Sci. and Technol., 29 (1) (2015) 259–267.
Z. Zhu, Y. Chen, Q. Jin and D. Huang, Study on high-speed centrifugal-regenerative pump with an inducer, Chinese J. of Chemical Engineering, 10 (2) (2002) 137–141.
F. Bakir, S. Kouidri, R. Noguera and R. Rey, Experimental analysis of an axial inducer influence of the shape of the blade leading edge on the performances in cavitating regime, ASME J. Fluids Eng., 125 (2) (2003) 293–301.
Y. Yoshida, Y. Tsujimoto, D. Kataoka, H. Horiguchi and F. Wahl, Effects of alternate leading edge cutback on unsteady cavitation in 4-bladed inducers, J. of Fluids Engineering, 123 (4) (2001) 762.
H. Horiguchi, Y. Semenov, M. Nakano and Y. Tsujimoto, Linear stability analysis of the effects of camber and blade thickness on cavitation instabilities in inducers, ASME J. Fluids Eng., 128 (3) (2006) 430–438.
S. Hong, J. Kim, C. Choi and J. Kim, Effect of tip clearance on the cavitation performance of a turbopump inducer, J. of Propulsion and Power, 22 (1) (2006) 174–179.
Y. Yoshida, M. Eguchi, T. Motomura, M. Uchiumi, H. Kure and Y. Maruta, Rotordynamic forces acting on three-bladed inducer under supersynchronous/synchronous rotating cavitation, ASME J. Fluids Eng., 132 (6) (2010).
K. Lee, J. Yoo and S. Kang, Experiments on cavitation instability of a two-bladed turbopump inducer, JMST, 23 (9) (2009) 2350–2356.
K. H. Lee, J. W. Choi and S. H. Kang, Cavitation performance and instability of a two-bladed inducer, J. of Propulsion and Power, 28 (6) (2012) 1168–1175.
S. Kobayashi, Effects of shaft vibration on occurrence of asymmetric cavitation in inducer, ASME International J. Series B-Fluids and Thermal Engineering, 49 (4) (2006) 1220–1225.
B. Pouffary, R. F. Patella, J. L. Reboud and P. A. Lambert, Numerical analysis of cavitation instabilities in inducer blade cascade, ASME J. Fluids Eng., 130 (4) (2008).
S. Kim, C. Choi, J. Kim, J. Park and J. Baek, Tip clearance effects on cavitation evolution and head breakdown in turbopump inducer, J. of Propulsion and Power, 29 (6) (2013) 1357–1366.
S. S. Hong, D. J. Kim, J. S. Kim, C. H. Choi and J. Kim, Study on inducer and impeller of a centrifugal pump for a rocket engine turbopump, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part C-J. of Mechanical Engineering Science, 227 (C2) (2013) 311–319.
R. Campos-Amezcua, S. Khelladi, Z. Mazur-Czerwiec, F. Bakir, A. Campos-Amezcua and R. Rey, Numerical and experimental study of cavitating flow through an axial inducer considering tip clearance, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part a-J. of Power and Energy, 227 (8) (2013) 858–868.
Z. Zhu, P. Xie, G. Ou, B. Cui and Y. Li, Design and experimental analyses of small-flow high-head centrifugalvortex pump for gas-liquid two-phase mixture, Chinese J. of Chemical Engineering, 16 (4) (2008) 528–534.
S. Yang, F. Kong, X. Qu and W. Jiang, Influence of blade number on the performance and pressure pulsations in a pump used as a turbine, ASME J. Fluids Eng. (2012) 134 (12).
S. Chakraborty, K. Choudhuri, P. Dutta and B. Debbarma, Performance prediction of centrifugal pumps with variations of blade number, J. of Scientific & Industrial Research, 72 (6) (2013) 373–378.
D. Japikse, Overview of industrial and rocket turbopump inducer design, Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Cavitation, Pasadena, CA (2001).
O. Coutier-Delgosha, G. Caignaert, G. Bois and J. Leroux, Influence of the blade number on inducer cavitating behavior, ASME J. Fluids Eng., 134 (8) (2012).
B. Ji, X. W. Luo, X. X. Peng, Y. L. Wu and H. Y. Xu, Numerical analysis of cavitation evolution and excited pressure fluctuation around a propeller in non-uniform wake, International J. of Multiphase Flow, 43 (2012) 13–21.
B. Ji, X. W. Luo, Y. L. Wu, X. X. Peng and Y. L. Duan, Numerical analysis of unsteady cavitating turbulent flow and shedding horse-shoe vortex structure around a twisted hydrofoil, International J. of Multiphase Flow, 51 (2013) 33–43.
B. Ji, X. Luo, X. Wang, X. Peng, Y. Wu and H. Xu, Unsteady numerical simulation of cavitating turbulent flow around a highly skewed model marine propeller, ASME J. Fluids Eng., 133 (1) (2011).
X. W. Luo, W. Wei, B. Ji, Z. B. Pan, W. C. Zhou and H. Y. Xu, Comparison of cavitation prediction for a centrifugal pump with or without volute casing, JMST, 27 (6) (2013) 1643–1648.
B. Ji, X. W. Luo, R. E. A. Arndt and Y. L. Wu, Numerical simulation of three dimensional cavitation shedding dynamics with special emphasis on cavitation-vortex interaction, Ocean Engineering, 87 (2014) 64–77.
X. F. Guan, Modern pumps theory and design, China Astronautic Publishing House, Beijing (2011) (in Chinese).
Z. Zhu, The theory and design application of the high speed centrifugal pump with low specific rotational speed, China Machine Press (2008) (in Chinese).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Recommended by Associate Editor Hyoung-gwon Choi
Xiaomei Guo received her Ph.D. from Zhejiang Science and Technology University. Her research interests are in clued multi-phase flow in the fluid machinery, flow mechanism in the highspeed pump, and design optimization of the fluid machine.
ZuChao Zhu is currently a professor and Ph.D. candidate supervisor at Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Fluid Transmission Technology, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, China. His main research interests include fluid machinery and engineering, fluid power transmission and control.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Guo, X., Zhu, Z., Cui, B. et al. Effects of the number of inducer blades on the anti-cavitation characteristics and external performance of a centrifugal pump. J Mech Sci Technol 30, 3173–3181 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-016-0510-1
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-016-0510-1