Experimental Study on Unsteady Cavitating Flow and Its Instability in Liquid Rocket Engine Inducer

Abstract

To study instability in the unsteady cavitating flow in a liquid rocket engine inducer, visualization experiments of non-cavitating and cavitating flows inside a model inducer were carried out at different flow conditions. Visual experiments were carried out to capture the evolution of non-cavitating and cavitating flows in a three-bladed inducer by using a high-speed camera. The external characteristic performance, cavitation performance, and pressure pulsation were analyzed based on the observation of non-cavitation and cavitation development and their instabilities. Under non-cavitation conditions, the change of flow rate has a significant impact on the pressure pulsation characteristics in the inducer. The occurrence of cavitation aggravated the instability of the flow and caused the intensity of pressure pulsation at each measuring point to increase. This cavitation structure has strong instability, and the tail region is often accompanied by shedding cavitation clouds perpendicular to the blade surface.