Influence of a Stability Control Device on the Performance of a Cavitating Water Pump Inducer

An inducer performance has been explored with and without the implementation of a stability control device. Multiphase, time-accurate computational fluid dynamic simulations have been conducted at the design flow coefficient and at two low off-design flow coefficients. At the design flow coefficient, the inducer performance was similar with and without the stability control device. At low flow coefficients, the inducer without the stability control device exhibited significant cavitation instabilities, which led to high rotordynamic forces on the inducer blades. When the stability control device was incorporated into the inducer design, nearly all of the cavitation instabilities were suppressed at low flow coefficients and the rotordynamic forces were reduced by more than an order of magnitude. Stable operation at flow coefficients far below the design value leads to a significant increase in the suction performance of the inducer, allowing pumps to operate at lower inlet pressures.