The truly time-variant unsteady flow in a low specific speed radial diffuser pump stage has been investigated by time-resolved Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) measurements. The measurements are conducted at the midspan of the blades for the design condition and also for some severe part-load conditions. The instantaneous flow fields among different impeller channels are analyzed and compared in detail, and more attention has been paid to flow separations at part-load conditions. The analysis of the measured results shows that the flow separations at two adjacent impeller channels are quite different at some part-load conditions. The separations generally exhibit a two-channel characteristic.

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