34 Feature
WORLD PUMPS February 2018
Cavitation
Pump cavitation
and how to avoid it
avitation can cause severe damage to water and
C wastewater pumps.This white paper explains how
cavitation occurs and is intended to serve as a
reference when selecting pumps, planning pump
stations and understanding cavitation-related
complications in the field.
Cavitation is recognized as a phenomenon by visual observation of bubbles, mate- fresh metal surface accelerates the corro-
that can cause severe damage to water and rial damage or decreased performance. sion process. Hence, the cavitation and
wastewater pumps. As manufacturers strive The rattling sound that accompanies the corrosion progresses are
to design smaller, more-efficient pumps cavitation is one of the most worrying compounded.
suitable for compact pump stations, small characteristics of this phenomenon,
margins are left for avoiding cavitation. For with frequencies from 10 kHz to 100
those responsible for the planning and kHz. The direct noise from cavitation in Impact on performance
maintenance of pumping installations, it is the pumped liquid is seldom the Cavitation reduces the head and the
important to understand what causes cavi- problem, but it can be transmitted power of the pump as the vapor
tation and how it can be avoided. through solid structures, both in the bubbles will reduce the active impeller
pump and in the surrounding pipe passage. A small amount of cavitation
Cavitation is the rapid process of formation system. For large dry-installed pumps will in many cases change the pump
and collapse of vapor bubbles in a liquid. the energy in cavitation-induced vibra- head and power in an unpredictable
In a pump, cavitation can damage a tions can occasionally cause severe way by altering the pressure distribution
number of working parts, which can lead noise as well as damage to the pump around the impeller blades. In rare cases
to results ranging from reduced perfor- and the piping system. this effect can even improve the pump
mance to total failure. Pump operation and efficiency; a misleading phenomenon for
life span are limited. There are several pump operatives.
reasons to why cavitation damage occurs. Surface damage
Some are a direct consequence of selected Perhaps the most obvious effect of cavi-
components in the pumping system; tation on pumps is the material damage Physics of cavitation in liquid
others are more difficult to control, such as that cavitation bubbles can cause when flows
the contents in the pumped liquid. If the they collapse in the vicinity of a solid Cavitation is the process of formation of
pumping system is inadequately planned surface. Eventually, this leads to fatigue vapor bubbles in a liquid flow caused by
and designed, it may lead to cavitation failure and the subsequent detachment an initial reduction of pressure below
and resulting in noise and vibration, mate- or flaking off of pieces of material. The vapor pressure, and subsequent collapse of
rial damage, reduced performance and severity of the damage is dependent on the bubbles due to a pressure increase.
even pump failure. the properties of both impeller material Here pressure means absolute pressure
and the pumped liquid. referenced against a perfect vacuum (0 Pa).
Typical indicators of pump Corrosion will often increase the speed Cavitation is a much faster phenomenon
cavitation of deterioration. Since the oxides are less than boiling because the changes in pres-
resilient to surface fatigue than the pure sure within a liquid can occur much faster
Noise and vibration metal, cavitation continuously chips off than changes in temperature. While the
The onset of cavitation is often first pieces of the oxide layer which protects vapor cavities formed by boiling emerge
detected by emitted noise rather than the metal. This continuous exposure of a on the walls of the containing vessel, the
www.worldpumps.com
Feature 35
WORLD PUMPS February 2018
vapor cavities formed by cavitation grow
out of microscopic bubbles of dissolved
gases, or on the surface of microscopic
particles suspended in the liquid. These
particles and bubbles are naturally occur-
ring in any practical application and are
always present to form the starting nuclei
for cavitation bubbles.
When vapor cavities have started to
form cavitation bubbles, they will be
transported by the flowing liquid. While
flowing through low pressure zones
they will expand due to the pressure
differences between the vapor inside
the bubbles and the surrounding liquid.
In zones with higher pressure the
bubbles will contract. The rate of this
expansion or contraction will be limited
by the forces of surface tension and
Figure 1. A phase diagram for water illustrating the following conditions: viscous forces.
1) The boiling point at sea level, T=100°C and P=101.3kPa.
2) The boiling point at Mount Everest, T=70°C and P=31.5kPa.
3) Vapor pressure at “normal” testing conditions, T=20°C and P=2.3kPa. When the bubbles contract towards an
infinitely small radius, they will implode
in a rather violent collapse caused by
high pressure at the center of the
bubble. The collapse is followed by a
localized pressure pulse that can give
rise to small but powerful micro jets.
These two effects can damage the
surrounding surfaces. To avoid this, we
need to understand the parameters
influencing the formation of cavitation
and establish how close to the limit the
conditions are in a particular application.
The vapor phase is created when the
pressure level at a point in the liquid
drops below the vapor pressure for the
actual temperature in the liquid. In
Figure 2. Schematic of the static pressure variation in the pump at a given flow rate. The red and blue
Figure 1 the vapor pressure curve indi-
dotted lines represent the influence of the inlet pressure given at Sea level and on top of Mount Everest.
With an inlet pressure corresponding to the pressure on top of Mount Everest the minimum pressure cates the boundary between the liquid
is clearly lower than the vapor pressure (20°C) near position 2, which means that cavitation will be phase and the vapor phase.
induced. Note that in reality when the static pressure reaches vapor pressure it is not reduced further.
From Figure 1 we can see that in normal
testing conditions for pumps at a
temperature of 20ºC, a pressure reduc-
tion of 99kPa (101.3−2.3) is needed to
reach the vapor pressure starting from
the atmospheric pressure at sea level.
Up to this point pressure has been
referred to as the absolute pressure at
sea level or on the top of Mount Everest.
In a moving liquid the total pressure or
energy in the water can be transferred
between the static pressure (measurable
absolute pressure) and the flow-derived
dynamic pressure. If no external energy
is added to a flowing liquid and internal
energy losses are neglected, an accelera-
Figure 3. Pump head, power and efficiency curves with three defined flow regions: recirculation, part tion of the fluid will increase the
load and over load. dynamic part and reduce the static part
www.worldpumps.com
36 Feature
WORLD PUMPS February 2018
The blade section pictured in Figure 4
will be used throughout the paper to
describe various flow characteristics.
Influence of flow rate on the
blade
In Figure 5 the regions where cavitation
typically starts are marked with red color.
Streamlines describing the flow path are
plotted with thin black lines. The lower
adjacent blade in each figure presents
the static pressure distribution around
the blade where blue color represents
low static pressure and orange color
high static pressure.
The red regions are in the vicinity of the
leading edge and will be the starting
point for formation of cavitation. Further
Figure 4. A section, including two blades, of a centrifugal impeller is used to describe several down the blade the static pressure
important impeller denominations such as the geometrical blade direction and the flow direction. increases, leading to the collapse of
vapor bubbles and potential damage to
while the total pressure remains ized comparison of performance the impeller surfaces.
constant. between pumps of different types and
sizes as each flow rate has a reference The size and location of these vapor
to the design flow, the optimum opera- cavities will depend on the inlet static
Occurrence of tional flow of the pump. pressure and actual flow rate. The
cavitation in pumps images in Figure 5 reflect a condition
A centrifugal pump adds pressure energy In Figure 3 the pump head curve is where the inlet pressure is below the
to the liquid by increasing the kinetic divided into three flow regions; recircula- normal test conditions for pumps. If the
energy which is converted to static pres- tion, part load and over load. Further- inlet pressure is increased then the cavi-
sure. It does this by diffusing the flow more the best efficiency point, QBEP, and tating region shrinks back towards the
inside the impeller and in the guide the approximate starting point for recir- leading edge.
vanes and volute. Although the primary culation, QRS, are marked. These oper-
purpose of a pump is to increase the ating flow regions and flow rates will be
total pressure of the liquid, the accelera- used to schematically describe the influ- Low pressure location at QBEP
tion into the impeller will initially cause a ence of the flow rate on cavitation Starting with the best efficiency point,
drop in the static pressure. Depending performance. QBEP, Figure 5-a shows a flow direction
on the inlet static pressure, vapor that is aligned with the blade. However,
bubbles can start to grow if the local it can be seen that the presence of the
static pressure drops below the vapor Flow direction inside the impeller blade causes a blockage effect on the
pressure of the liquid. Occurrence of When a centrifugal pump operates at incoming flow which leads to low static
cavitation inside the pump is therefore QBEP, the flow inside the impeller is pressure regions on both sides of the
highly dependent on the static inlet aligned with the impeller blades since it blade. If the inlet static pressure is
pressure. is specifically designed for this flow rate. reduced significantly, then cavitation can
In recirculation and part load (Q/ be present even when the flow direction
QBEP<1) or over load (Q/QBEP>1) the is perfectly aligned with the blade.
Pump performance curves and static pressure distribution on the
flow regions impeller blades is distorted, and areas of
The pressure energy delivered by a low static pressure are formed. The loca- Cavitation patterns in over load
pump is usually presented as total tion of low-pressure areas largely In over load, Figure 5-b shows that the
dynamic head (H) given as the height depends on the difference between the flow direction at the impeller inlet is
of a liquid column in meters or feet. direction of flow and the geometrical turned towards the suction side of the
This gives a relation between head and direction of the blade at the impeller’s blade. As a consequence, part of the
pressure, p=ρgH, where p is pressure, g leading edge. liquid has to accelerate around the
is gravity and ρ is the liquid density. In leading edge and a region of low static
Figure 3 the pump head curve (H), Figure 4 depicts the top view of a typical pressure is formed on the pressure side
power curve (P) and efficiency curve (η) centrifugal pump impeller. A blade of the blade, again introducing a region
are plotted against the flow rate (Q). In section in the impeller is used to prone to cavitate. If the flow is
this case flow values have been normal- describe the deviation between the increased further then the misalign-
ized with the flow at the best efficiency blade direction and the flow direction in ment between the flow direction and
point (BEP), QBEP. This allows a general- part load. the geometrical blade direction will
www.worldpumps.com
Feature 37
WORLD PUMPS February 2018
increase, and consequently the region
of low static pressure enlarges.
Cavitation patterns in part load
Figure 5-c examines the other part of
the performance curve, in part load.
Figure 5-c reveals that in contrast to
overload conditions, the flow direction is
turned towards the pressure side. This Figure 5a. The static pressure
at QBEP where the flow
causes a low pressure region at the direction is aligned with the
suction side of the blade. blade. The enlarged circle
visualizes the local decrease
in static pressure due to the
acceleration around the
Recirculation leading edge of the blade.
When the flow rate decreases below the
QRS the pump is operating in the recir-
culation region of the performance
curve. Recirculation usually begins at the
impeller discharge, where flow starts to
recirculate back from the pump volute
into the impeller. This is called discharge
recirculation.
When the flow rate is decreased further,
the deviation between the flow direction
and the geometric blade direction at the
leading edge increases to the extent that
the liquid starts to separate from the
blade suction side and recirculate back
Figure 5b. The blade pressure
into the inlet of the pump. This is called in over load. Cavitation in over
suction recirculation under which a vortex load starts as thin sheets of
starts to form between the impeller vapor near the leading edge
on the blade pressure side.
blades. A vortex is an isolated swirling
fluid structure that comprises a core of
low pressure at which cavitation can be
induced.
Recirculation is a very complex and
highly three-dimensional flow regime
that is not stationary and difficult to
describe in general terms. The onset
point of recirculation is highly dependent
on the type of pump as well as on the
geometrical details of the impeller and
pump suction.
Evaluation of cavitation risks Figure 5c. The blade pressure
In order to make it convenient for pump in part load. Cavitation in part
manufacturers and users to evaluate the load starts as thin sheets of
risk for cavitation to take place inside a vapor on the suction side by
the leading edge.
pump, the terminology Net Positive
Suction Head (NPSH) has been
introduced.
liquid. Here Net refers to what is NPSH = Htot – Hvap = Hstat +
remaining after all deductions, from the Hdyn – Hvap
Definition of cavitation atmospheric condition to the impeller Cavitation performance of pumps can
performance for pumps eye in the present installation. Positive be tested with several different
NPSH is the difference between the means it is absolute pressure and methods described in the international
absolute total pressure at the eye of the Suction Head refers to the pressure at standard ISO9906:2012. All methods
pump impeller and the liquid vapor the pump suction elevation. NPSH is include running the pump at different
pressure converted into head of the defined in the following way: levels of NPSH, while measuring head,
www.worldpumps.com
38 Feature
WORLD PUMPS February 2018
flow and power. From the test data the acteristics considered to be independent effects are far more complicated than
NPSH3- performance of the pump is of the system. those used to evaluate NPSH3 and the
calculated. NPSH3 is the NPSH-level at effects on pump reliability are in most
which the head of the pump at a NPSHav is the available suction head in cases negligible. Therefore information
certain flow rate has dropped 3% due the system which must be compared about NPSHi levels is generally not of
to influence from cavitation. By with the pump characteristics to deter- interest for those using the pump, and is
repeating the test procedure for several mine under which condition the pump usually not available from the manufac-
flow rates an NPSH3 curve can be is operating. Reliable operation is gener- turers. However, the interpretation of
established. ally guaranteed by the supplier if incipient cavitation is important for the
NPSHav>NPSHR at the given flow rate, general understanding of cavitation in
but it must be understood that to avoid pumps.
Additional cavitation criteria for cavitation completely the NPSHav level
pumps needs to be higher than NPSHi. Curves The NPSHi curve has its lowest value
To recognize the complexity of cavitation representing the different types of NPSH- when the flow direction at the impeller
in pumps, several other NPSH criteria are criteria are plotted schematically in inlet coincides with the blade direction
often used to describe different states of Figure 6. The understanding of the at the leading edge. This is often referred
cavitation in a pump. In this paper NPSHi different NPSH-criteria will be discussed to as the shockless flow condition and
denotes the incipient cavitation where further below. usually occurs at a flow rate slightly
the first vapor bubbles occur, NPSH0 is higher than QBEP. The more Q/QBEP
the level where the head first starts to deviates from 1, the more the NPSHi
drop and NPSHR indicates the manufac- Incipient cavitation level increases to fully suppress the
turer specified level above which the The formation of the first vapor bubbles starting point for cavitation. In over load
pump will operate without risk for major are induced by local pressure drops the NPSHi curve follows the principal
cavitation-induced damage. It is impor- caused by discontinuous surfaces or in shape of the NPSH3 curve while in part
tant to understand that all the the gaps between the impeller and the load it increases till it reaches the
mentioned NPSH criteria are pump char- pump casing. Methods to capture these starting flow for recirculation QRS.
Below QRS the pump operates under
recirculation, a flow regime with
Inconsistent definitons of NPSHR partially reversed flow in the impeller. In
Be aware that, in contrary to the presented definitions some manufacturers recirculation NPSHi levels are very
use the term NPSHR with the same meaning as NPSH3. NPSH3 signals that dependent on the design of the pump
the pump is already severely affected by cavitation; operating a pump at suction. The curve denoted in Figure 6
these conditions will most certainly damage it. A margin towards the NPSH3 shows the typical effect on NPSHi from
level must always be used and recommended ratios NPSHav/NPSH3 can pre-rotation reducing inlet ribs or a
be found in e.g. the guideline on NPSH-margin issued by Hydraulic Institute. bend on the inlet. Operation in recircu-
lation should be avoided especially for
larger pumps in dry installation where
the pressure pulsations may cause
vibrations in piping and fundaments as
NPSH well as high loads on the pump shaft
RECIRCULATION
Q RS PART LOAD Q BEP OVER LOAD and bearings.
1
Studies to determine the NPSHi level for
different pump types show large varia-
tions of the ratio NPSHi/NPSH3.
Depending on pump type and relative
flow rate, values between 1.5 and 10
have been observed. The required level
of NPSHav to fully suppress all cavitation,
NPSHav>NPSHi, is not practically attain-
able or required to guarantee reliability
Q/Q BEP in most applications. Therefore NPSHR
has been defined by the manufacturers
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 as the recommended minimum
NPSH3 NPSH0 NPSHR NPSHi NPSHav
NPSH-level.
Part two of this paper will be printed in
Figure 6 Schematic NPSH-curves for a centrifugal pump. Recalling the definitions of NPSHav and
NPSHR, it is clear that for this example, reliable operation would be guaranteed in the flow range 0<Q/
QBEP<1.45; also that a completely cavitation-free operation only exists in the flow range 0.83<Q/
a following issue.•
QBEP<1.19. www.xylem.com
www.worldpumps.com
