Transient Behavior of a Cavitating Centrifugal Pump at Rapid Change in Operating Conditions—Part 2: Transient Phenomena at Pump Startup/Shutdown

Abstract

In the 1st report, the dynamic behavior of a cavitating centrifugal pump was related to the transient phenomena at the sudden opening/closure of the discharge valve. In this paper, the experimental study was extended to the transient behavior of the cavitating centrifugal pump at rapid starting/stopping of the pump. Unsteady pressures and flowrate were related to time-dependent cavitation behavior in a similar manner as for the rapid operation of the discharge valve. As a result of the present study, pressure fluctuations were found to occur due to water column separation at the sudden stop of the pump similarly to pressure oscillations associated with the sudden closure of the discharge valve. Moreover, the experimental results on the transient behavior at pump startup indicated that the transient fluctuations of delivery pressure and discharge flowrate are caused by oscillating cavitation similarly to the ones occurring at the opening of the discharge valve.