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Cavitation in hydraulic machinery

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Cavitation in hydraulic machinery

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The collapse of the bobble close to a surface will be asymmetric. A jet stream will be formed in the center and hits the surface with large impulse. It has been measured pressure pulses up to 1000 bar and velocities around 200 m/s in a collapsing bubble. The collapse creates local pressure oscillation with a large amplitude. It is not known if it is the jet stream, pressure pulse or both that causes the damage to the surface.

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Cavitation over a ving profile

Ref. Morten Kjeldsen

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Types of cavitation in hydraulic machines

Saturated water vapor pressure versus temperature

Stages of cavitation

Ref. Hydraulic Machines, Turbines and Pumps G.I. Krivchenko

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NPSH
Net Pressure Suction Head

c NPSH ! H A  hv  z4  z2  : s  1 2 g
4

2 2

z4

NPSH hv HA z2 z4 c2 :s

Net Positive Suction Head vapor pressure head atmospheric pressure head Height above ref. line at location 2 Height above ref. line at location 4 mean velocity at location 2 loss coefficient

[m] [m] [m] [m] [m] [m/s] [-]

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z4

2 2 2 c3 c3 c2 ! h3  z3   :3 h2  z2  2 g 2 g 2 g

Losses

2 2 2 2 c2 c3 c3 c2 ! h4  z4   :3 ! h4  z4  : S h2  z2  2 g 2 g 2 g 2 g

2 c2 h2 ! h4  z4  z2  : S  1 2 g

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z4

c h2 ! h4  z 4  z 2  : s  1 2 g
Let us introduce the vapor pressure, hv :

2 2

h2 ! hv  (h

c hv  (h ! h4  z4  z2  : s  1 2 g
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2 2

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NPSH
Net Pressure Suction Head
2 c2 hv  (h ! h4  z 4  z2  : s  1 2 g

2 c2 (h ! h4  hv  z4  z 2  : s  1 2 g
4

4
z

2 c2 NPSH ! H A  hv  z4  z2  : s  1 2 g

Atmospheric pressure: HA = h4

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Suction Head
4
z4

c NPSH ! H A  hv  z 4  z 2  : s  1 2 g

2 2

hs

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Submergence of a turbine
c NPSH ! H A  hv  H S  : s  1 2 g
NPSH hv HA HS c2 :s Net Positive Suction Head vapor pressure head atmospheric pressure head Submergence mean velocity at location 2 loss coefficient [m] [m] [m] [m] [m/s] [-]

2 2

HS

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NPSH available and NPSH required

NPSH available
This is the NPSH that is given by the site where the turbine is installed

NPSH required
This is the NPSH that the turbine required for non-cavitating operation

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Law of Thoma
NPSH W! H
Provided that similar hydraulic cavitating flow remain unchanged relative to the flow canals, the relations of hydraulic similar flow, are valid also for flow including cavitation.

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Thomas Cavitation Coefficient

0.25 0.2

Thoma Cavitation Coefficient Hs=10 - Sigma x He

Thomas CavitationSigma Coefficient

W
0.15 0.1 0.05 0 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 ;![ Q 1 1.2 1.4

Speed no

Speed number ;

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Critical Cavitation Coefficient

Efficiency, L [ - ]

(L = 3 %

WCritical
Thomas Cavitation Coefficient,

W
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