PUMP INDUCER OPTIMIZATION BASED ON CAVITATION CRITERION

The paper presents the optimization procedure of a pump inducer taking into account the cavitation criterion. The pump inducer optimization procedure is based on inverse design method where the inflow and outflow conditions are known. Axial flow is considered as upstream condition while the downstream swirling flow is suited for the pump impeller inlet, respectively. The key ingredient in this procedure is the function of loading shape which provides the distribution of blade loading from leading edge to trailing edge. A new parametric analytical expression is introduced in this paper for the loading shape function. The objective function corresponds to the minimum pressure coefficient with reverse sign, which is minimized within the chosen parameter space. This procedure is applied for optimize a pump inducer with three blades, with improved cavitating performance.