Oscillating cavitation of an inducer was observed through unsteady inlet pressure measurements and by use of high speed video picture, covering a wide range of flow coefficient and cavitation number. One of the purposes of the study is to identify a mode of rotating cavitation predicted by a linear analysis, and the other is to obtain a general view of oscillating cavitation. The number of rotating cavitation cells and their propagation velocity were carefully determined from the phase difference of pressure fluctuations at various circumferential locations. Various kinds of oscillating cavitation were observed: rotating cavitation rotating faster/slower than impeller rotation, cavitation in backflow vortices, and surge mode oscillations. Effects of inlet and outlet (effective) pipelength were also studied.
Rotating stalls in vaneless diffusers are studied from the viewpoint that they are basically two-dimensional inviscid flow instability under the boundary conditions of vanishing velocity disturbance at the diffuser inlet and of vanishing pressure disturbance at the diffuser outlet. The linear analysis in the present report shows that the critical flow angle and the propagation velocity are functions of only the diffuser radius ratio. It is shown that the present analysis can reproduce most of the general characteristics observed in experiments: critical flow angle, propagation velocity, velocity, and pressure disturbance fields. It is shown that the vanishing velocity disturbance at the diffuser inlet is caused by the nature of impellers as a “resistance” and an “inertial resistance,” which is generally strong enough to suppress the velocity disturbance at the diffuser inlet. This explains the general experimental observations that vaneless diffuser rotating stalls are not largely affected by the impeller.
This paper treats the flow instabilities in a vaned diffuser by using CFD. A commercial code with the standard κ-ε turbulence model was used for the present work. It was found that the flow instabilities in the vaned diffuser: i.e., rotating stall, alternate blade stall, and asymmetric stall, could be simulated by the present calculations. These instabilities were observed in a range with negative slope of the pressure performance curve of the diffuser. The rotating stall onset flow rate is larger for the case with larger clearance between the impeller and diffuser vanes.
Rotating cavitation was analyzed using an actuator disk method. Quasi-steady pressure performance of the impeller, mass flow gain factor, and cavitation compliance of the cavity were taken into account. Three types of destabilizing modes were predicted: rotating cavitation propagating faster than the rotational speed of the impeller, rotating cavitation propagating in the direction opposite that of the impeller, and rotating stall propagating slower than the rotational speed of the impeller. It was shown that both types of rotating cavitation were caused by the positive mass flow gain factor, while the rotating stall was caused by the positive slope of the pressure performance. Stability and propagation velocity maps are presented for the two types of rotating cavitation in the mass flow gain factor-cavitation compliance plane. The correlation between theoretical results and experimental observations is discussed.
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