Application of Signal Analysis to Cavitation

Abstract

The diagnostic facilities of the cross power spectrum and the coherence function have been employed to enhance the identification of not only the inception of cavitation, but also its level. Two piezoelectric pressure transducers placed in the downstream chamber of a model spool valve undergoing various levels of cavitation allowed for the use of both functions—the phase angle of the complex cross spectrum and the dimensionless coherence function—to sense clearly the difference between noise levels associated with a noncavitating jet from those once cavitation inception is attained. The cavitation noise within the chamber exhibited quite a regular character in terms of the phase difference between instruments for limited cavitation. Varying cavitation levels clearly illustrated the effect of bubble size on the attendant frequency range for which there was an extremely high coherence or nearly perfect causality.