Research on hydrodynamics of high velocity regions in a water-jet pump based on experimental and numerical calculations at different cavitation conditions

Cavitation is a common phenomenon and continues to be a primary concern in the fields of hydraulic machinery. To provide a reference for cavitation flow and cavitation performance improvement, this paper presents the experimental study on the cavitation flow structures of the water-jet pump. High-speed photography technology is used to capture the cavitation flow structures and reveal the physical process of cavitation evolution in the water-jet pump. Cavitation–vortex interaction was further explored by numerical simulations. By extracting 24 m/s water velocity isosurface and analyzing the water superficial velocity on the isosurface, the flow characteristics in the high-velocity fluid area under different cavitation stages are revealed. Then, by analyzing the vortex structure on the isosurface, the main factors affecting the development of the vortex structure on the high-velocity fluid area are summarized.