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The tip leakage flows and related cavitation in the tip region of an axial-flow pump were investigated in detail using the numerical and experimental methods. The numerical results of the pump model performance were in good agreement with experimental data. The flow structures in the tip clearance were clarified clearly with detailed data involving the axial velocity and turbulent kinetic energy. When depicting the feature of vortex core, the advanced vortex identification method λ 2 -criterion was used. Simultaneously, the minimum tension criterion was also applied to predict the cavitation inception for different flow rates and it is consistent with the distributions of vorticity and pressure in the vortex core. The roll-up process of TLV is highly threedimensional and the entrainment would follow different paths. Then, both the numerical and experimental approaches show the cavitation patterns for different cavitation conditions, and it also finds that slight cavitation would promote the development of tip leakage vortex (TLV) while the TLV seems to be eliminated for a low cavitation number, especially before a specific location of blade tip due to the blade loading change induced by cavitation possibly.

In this paper, the large eddy simulation is utilized to simulate the flow field in a mixed-flow pump based on the standard Smagorinsky subgrid scale model, which is combined with the experiments to investigate pressure fluctuations under low flow conditions. The experimental results indicated that the amplitude of fluctuation at the impeller inlet is the highest, and increases with the reduction of the flow rate. The main frequencies of pressure fluctuation at the impeller inlet, impeller outlet, and vane inlet are blades passing frequency, while the main frequency at the vane outlet changes with the flow rate. The results of the simulation showed that the axial plane velocity at impeller inlet undergoes little change under 0.8 Qopt. In case of 0.4 Qopt, however, the flow field at impeller inlet becomes complicated with the axial plane velocity changing significantly. The flow separation is generated at the leading edge of the suction surface at t* = 0.0416 under 0.4 Qopt, which is caused by the increase of the incidence angle and the influence of the tip leakage flow. When the impeller rotates from t* = 0.0416 to t* = 0.1249, the flow separation intensified and the swirling strength of the separation vortex is gradually increased, leading to the reduction of the static pressure, the rise of adverse pressure gradient, and the generation of backflow. The static pressure at the leading edge of the impeller recovers gradually until the backflow is reached. In addition, the flow separation is the main reason for the intensification of the pressure fluctuation.

Large eddy simulation is used in this work to simulate the three-dimensional turbulent flow in an open cavity, with special attention paid to the parametrical effect and turbulence analysis. The effect of mesh resolution, the sub-grid model and the advection scheme on the resolved flow structure is discussed in detail. Then, the mechanism of flow-induced pressure fluctuation associated with the primary and secondary vortex in the shear layer is clarified quantitatively and qualitatively. Finally, the turbulent kinetic energy and turbulence production rate, the contribution of three components to total turbulence production rate and the main single contributor are analyzed systematically. The present simulations are performed for two Reynolds numbers and the results show that the flow is more turbulent with the increase in Reynolds number, but the general flow morphology is almost the same. It is expected that the basic founding is useful for understanding such similar flows and will provide some guidelines for controlling the vortex-induced flow instability in engineering applications.

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