The pressure fluctuations acting on the impeller and the impeller vibration excited by the fluctuations were investigated in a centrifugal pump with several vaned diffusers. Firstly, the pressures both acting on the impeller and in the volute were measured simultaneously. It was demonstrated that both the volute static pressure and the pressure fluctuations on the impeller are uneven circumferentially (not uniform) under off-design operating conditions. At high flow rates, the pressure fluctuations are large in the front of the volute exit, where the static pressure is low. Secondly, the impeller vibration excited by the fluctuations was measured. It was found that resonance can be excited even when the resonance condition of rotor-stator interaction is not satisfied and sidebands occur in frequency spectra because of the circumferential unevenness of the fluctuations. Resonance can also be excited when a natural frequency of the impeller coincides with the frequencies of sidebands. Furthermore, the vibration wave is a traveling wave in the circumferential direction when resonance of a nodal diameter mode is excited, and the resonant frequency may depend on the traveling direction of the wave due to the inertia effect (added mass) of water.

The pressure fluctuations and the radial fluid forces induced by rotor-stator interaction in a centrifugal pump were measured and their relationship was investigated. Experiments were done for various guide vanes, flow rates, and rotating speeds. It was demonstrated that both the blade pressure fluctuations and the volute static pressures are non-uniform circumferentially (not axisymmetric) under off-design operating conditions and that the two have a strong relationship. At high flow rates, the interaction-induced blade pressure fluctuations are large in areas where the volute static pressure is low. The propagating directions of the pressure fluctuations, the whirling directions of the radial fluid forces acting on the impeller and the dominant frequency components of both the fluctuations and the fluid forces are discussed. When measuring the fluid forces in the rotating frame, other frequency components, in addition to those related to the products of the number of guide vanes and the rotating frequency, may occur due to the circumferential unevenness of the pressure fluctuations.

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