The Damage Capacity of Cavitating Flow From Pulse Height Analysis

Abstract

Digital pulse amplitude acquisition systems are reviewed and an analogue pulse height analyser (PHA) is described. Cavitation experiments are reported in which pressure pulses in the liquid (water) are picked up by a flush mounted pressure transducer and measured using the PHA. Tests were carried out on two cavitation sources: a 60 deg symmetric wedge and a circular cylinder. Despite generating similar r.m.s. noise levels the wedge is 21 times as damaging as the circular cylinder at peak noise flow conditions (at V = 16 m/s). By imposing thresholds on the spectra parameters it had been possible to find a linear calibration beween noise and erosion applicable to both cavitation sources over a range of flow velocities. A good correlation between cavitation noise and erosion was found by simply measuring the number of pulses above a suitable threshold.