Experimental Study on Unsteady Cavitating Flow and Its Instability in Liquid Rocket Engine Inducer

Wang, Hao; Feng, Jian; Liu, Keyang; Shen, Xipeng; Xu, Bin; Stankovic, John A.; Zhang, Wei-Bin

doi:10.3390/jmse10060806

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 21 publications

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“…Wedge-shaped sheet cavitation then followed, which was subsequently succeeded by backflow vortex cavitation. And the stability of bubble with different cavitation number and flow conditions are introduced by Wang et al [14]. As Cui et al [15,16] summarized, the evolution of inducer flow features includes vortex cavitation, sheet cavitation, cloud cavitation, and backflow cavitation, as well as cavitation surge.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation of cavitation evolvement in a pump inducer by proper orthogonal decomposition analysis of video images

Cao,

Yuan,

Kong

et al. 2023

Meas. Sci. Technol.

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The aim of this study is to develop a contour extraction method for the investigation of the temporal and spatial characteristics of cavitation evolution in high-speed inducers. Cavitation experiments were conducted, and corresponding snapshots were captured using a high-speed camera subsequently. The raw images were processed while using threshold value filtering techniques to extract only relevant bubble information. Proper orthogonal decomposition was employed to explore the evolving characteristics in a quantitative manner. Results show that the cavitation evolution process is an unsteady process when viewed from the side. In high net positive suction head (NPSH) environments, multiple small-scale spatial modals contribute significantly to the effective proportion of the cavitation structure. The attached sheet cavitation exists in the blade edge which is the main embodiment of cavitation area evolvement. Under low NPSH conditions, the primary flow feature can be reflected by a low-mode flow pattern, associated with the inducer’s rotation effect. The evolving regulation of cavitation area in developed stage is closely submitted to the trigonometric function. And the exhibited spatial coefficient exposes the hidden reflux vortex feature. The proposed image separation techniques enable the quantification of morphological features, which can provide technical details for the digital design of inducers.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation of cavitation evolvement in a pump inducer by proper orthogonal decomposition analysis of video images

Cao,

Yuan,

Kong

et al. 2023

Meas. Sci. Technol.

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Numerical investigations on the mechanisms of the tip leakage vortex cavitation development in a cryogenic inducer with large eddy simulation

Chen

et al. 2023

Physics of Fluids

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Liquid hydrogen is considered clean energy and is usually pressurized by cryogenic pumps in various industries. To ensure the safe operation of cryogenic pumps, the inducer is installed in front of the pump to improve the impeller inlet pressure but causes cavitation instabilities. This paper aims to investigate the mechanisms of the tip leakage vortex (TLV) cavitating flow in a cryogenic inducer with liquid nitrogen. The large eddy simulations model was used to analyze the thermodynamic effects on the tip leakage vortex cavitation (TLVC). The cavity structure and the pulsation mechanisms of the TLVC were analyzed through the flow characteristics and the vorticity transportation process. The predicted cavitation performance is in good agreement with the experimental measurements. The numerical results showed that the TLVC is suppressed and forms the separation point between the primary TLVC and the secondary TLVC due to the thermodynamic effects. The inhibition rate of the vapor volume fraction at the leading edge is 30%. The pressure fluctuations are caused by the propagation pattern of the detached cavity interacting with the adjacent blade periodically. The velocity triangles near the detached cavity were proposed to reveal the development of the TLVC. It indicates that TLVC instability is caused by the periodic coupling effect of the cavity development, the flow rate magnitude, and the local incidence angle variation. The vorticity transport equation is utilized to investigate the interaction of cavitation and vortex. Comparing the three terms reveals that the stretching and bending term dominates in the vorticity production of the TLV cavitating flow. The dilatation term controls the transportation of vorticity inside the TLV cavity, while the contribution of the baroclinic torque term is negligible in comparison to the other terms. This study provides a reference for optimizing the TLV cavitating flow and instabilities for designing the cryogenic pump.

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Experimental Study on Unsteady Cavitating Flow and Its Instability in Liquid Rocket Engine Inducer

Cited by 2 publications

References 21 publications

Investigation of cavitation evolvement in a pump inducer by proper orthogonal decomposition analysis of video images

Investigation of cavitation evolvement in a pump inducer by proper orthogonal decomposition analysis of video images

Numerical investigations on the mechanisms of the tip leakage vortex cavitation development in a cryogenic inducer with large eddy simulation

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