The Cavitation Characteristics of Aerospace High-Speed Centrifugal Pumps with Different Tip Clearance

Abstract This study investigates the Tip Clearance Cavitation (TCC) characteristics of three different Tip Clearances (TC) ,The values of TC are 0.4mm, 0.6mm, and 0.8mm respectively, and five inlet negative pressure conditions P j =(-20-60)kPa to improve the reliability of the aerospace high-speed centrifugal pump during in-orbit operation, based on the premise of good agreement between the TC 0.6 test curve and the simulation performance curve. Under negative pressure and high-speed conditions, the variation gradient of cavitation characteristics with various inlet negative pressures is non-linear and has a sudden change, but the trend becomes stable after the inlet negative pressure drops to a certain stage. The tip clearance cavitation characteristics vary from the blade surface cavitation characteristics due to the difference in forces on both sides. This study is a good starting point for the design of aerospace power pumps.