Experimental Analysis of an Axial Inducer Influence of the Shape of the Blade Leading Edge on the Performances in Cavitating Regime

The aim of this paper is to analyze, from experimental results, the influence of the shape of the leading edge and its sharpening on the cavitating behavior of an inducer. The studied inducer is designed according to a methodology developed at LEMFI. Successive cutting and sharpening (four cuts, which modify up to 20 percent of the blade chord at the tip), were made to modify the shape of the leading edge. For the various geometries, the experimental results obtained on the LEMFI test rig are presented as follows. Noncavitating Regime: Overall performances at 1450 rpm. Cavitating Regime: (1) The development of the cavitation versus the cavitation number, (2) the description of the various cavitation pictures, and (3) the pressure fluctuations measured at the wall at 150 mm downstream of the trailing edge for various flow rates and inlet pressures. The CFD simulations carried out under CFX-Blade Gen+ on this range of inducers are presented to explain certain aspects observed.