TY - JOUR
T1 - Evaluation of suction performance of inducer with splitter blade
AU - Tanaka, Yohei
AU - Kitabata, Takahiro
AU - Watanabe, Satoshi
AU - Ohashi, Satoru
AU - Sakata, Akira
AU - Matsunaga, Yasushi
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to Mr. Wataru Matsumoto, a technician of Kyushu University, for his kind support for the preparation of experiment. Mr. Koichi Nasu, an under graduate student of Kyushu University, is also acknowledged for his help in the series of experiments. This study was carried out under the joint research between Kyushu University and IHI Corporation.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, Turbomachinery Society of Japan. All rights reserved.
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/1/1
Y1 - 2021/1/1
N2 - For general-use turbopumps with inducer, instability-free operation is required as well as high suction performance in a wide operating range from shut-off to over flow rates. Among the instabilities, the cavitation surge at low flow rates is a very vital phenomenon that is known to be strongly associated with the occurrence of inlet back flow. The low inlet blade angle would be favorable for the suppression of inlet backflow through the reduction of blade loading at the inlet, while the inlet throat area should be kept large for better suction performance to minimize the flow blockage due to cavitation. In the present study, a splitter blade inducer is designed on the basis of the knowledge acquired by our previous CFD study conducted for the 2-D cascade and 3-D straight-hub inducer. Then the effectiveness of the splitter inducer is investigated by experiments and CFD. As a result, the inlet backflow and the cavitation surge are found to be suppressed in the splitter inducer, which is achieved by reducing the blade loading with low inlet blade angle. The suction performance is improved at high flow rates by relaxing the low pressure region with high relative velocity.
AB - For general-use turbopumps with inducer, instability-free operation is required as well as high suction performance in a wide operating range from shut-off to over flow rates. Among the instabilities, the cavitation surge at low flow rates is a very vital phenomenon that is known to be strongly associated with the occurrence of inlet back flow. The low inlet blade angle would be favorable for the suppression of inlet backflow through the reduction of blade loading at the inlet, while the inlet throat area should be kept large for better suction performance to minimize the flow blockage due to cavitation. In the present study, a splitter blade inducer is designed on the basis of the knowledge acquired by our previous CFD study conducted for the 2-D cascade and 3-D straight-hub inducer. Then the effectiveness of the splitter inducer is investigated by experiments and CFD. As a result, the inlet backflow and the cavitation surge are found to be suppressed in the splitter inducer, which is achieved by reducing the blade loading with low inlet blade angle. The suction performance is improved at high flow rates by relaxing the low pressure region with high relative velocity.
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U2 - 10.5293/IJFMS.2021.14.1.13
DO - 10.5293/IJFMS.2021.14.1.13
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85100550892
VL - 14
SP - 13
EP - 24
JO - International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
JF - International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
SN - 1882-9554
IS - 1
ER -