Head Curve of Noncavitating Inducer

Abstract

In the inducer hydraulic design, one significantly important task is to estimate its noncavtating head; however, there is not a matured and reliable method for this presently. In this paper, a method was made for predicting the inducer head curve. The method was based on a singularity method and a hydraulic loss model with a variable correction factor. The blade thickness blockage effect on the flow was taken into account. The method was validated with the experimental data of the existing 17 inducers found in references. Moreover, the curves showing the relation of the correction factor with the mean blade angle at tip for two- and three-bladed inducers were established. The method can achieve a very good agreement with experimental observations. Furthermore, the flow field calculated by the method may be instructive to the engineers of inducer hydraulic design.