Contributions to some cavitation problems in turbomachinery

Abstract

In the present article, three problems associated with cavitation in turbomachinery are discussed. The first one deals with the potential application of recent understanding in cavitation inception to similar problems in turbomachinery. The second considers the thermodynamic effects in developed cavitation. This has relevance to turbopump operation using fluids other than water. Old correlations to predict the above effect are summarized and a new correlation is proposed. Lastly, the possible methodology to predict pump cavitation noise is outlined. This section relies heavily on similar developments in propeller cavitation noise research.