Effect of Tip Clearance on the Cavitation Flow in a Shunt Blade Inducer

Abstract

In order to study the effect of tip clearance on the internal cavitation stability of a shunt blade inducer, an external characteristics experiment of a centrifugal pump with a shunt blade inducer was carried out. Based on the turbulence model and mixture model, the cavitating flow in a centrifugal pump with the inducer was numerically simulated. The influence of tip clearance on the cavitating flow in a shunt inducer was studied and analyzed. Through the research, it was found that tip clearance has a certain influence on the critical cavitation coefficient. The existence of the tip clearance caused a significant leakage vortex near the inducer’s inlet and a strong transient effect was shown. The location and degree of cavitation caused by the tip leakage are clarified in this paper. Tip clearance has a great impact on the pressure distribution on a shunt blade inducer. The influence law of tip clearance on an inducer’s blade load distribution was clarified. The results showed that tip clearance has a significant effect on the cavitation of a shunt blade inducer under low flow rate conditions.