Net Positive Suction Head (NPSH)

Safety margin against occurrence of

Cavitation

UNIT -6
Sec. 12.2.3
 WHAT IS CAVITATION?
It is a condition inside a turbomachine
where the local pressure drops to the vapor
pressure of the liquid; and
As a result vapor-filled cavities are formed
It severely damages components of the
machine and reduces its performance
Water vaporizes
at lower
temperature at
lower pressure.
For example, at 1 atm
(10.33 m) water
vaporizes at 100 C,
but it will vaporize at
about 30 C at 0.04
atm (0.44m Head)
 How cavitation occurs
Pressure at pump inlet = Patm - Hs g. When Pinlet < Potm the
water may boil at lower temperature creating vapor bubbles. As
the bubbles travels into regions of high pressure in blades they
suddenly collapse generating extremely high local pressure.
 Effect of Cavitation
Damage of blade/casing through pitting,
erosion and fatigue
Noise
Vibration
Lowering of head and discharge
Lowering of efficiency
Effects of cavitation

Damage of blade/casing
through pitting, erosion
and fatigue
Loss in capacity.
Loss head (pressure)
developed
Efficiency loss.
Noise
Vibration
 NPSH
Static head at pump inlet
Pi = Patm g Hs
The suction head, Hs includes suction lift ZS , pipe
losses, hs and the velocity head v2/2g
Hs = Zs +hs + v2/2g
When cavitation starts Pi= <Pvap
Net Positive Suction Head (NPSH) at the inlet
of the impeller is defined as specific energy of the
liquid minus the vapor pressure head. It is a safety
margin
NPSH = vi2/2g + Pi/(g)- Pvap/ (g)
= (Patm g Hs)/ (g) - Pvap/ (g)
NPSH is a design characteristic of a pump
Figure 12.10 Cavitation bubble distribution in an
impeller region. (Courtesy of Sulzer Pumps Ltd.)
 Cavitation
Sometimes the pressure at the inlet of a pump drops
below the vapor pressure of the liquid. So vapor
bubbles formed are carried in the pump
The bubbles suddenly collapse when the pressure
increases above its vapor pressure
If the collapse takes place on any pump surface
pitting occurs due to high local pressure gradient.
Cavitation also causes rapid decrease in the
performance of the pump
To avoid this a minimum head of fluid is
maintained at the pump inlet. It is called Net
Positive Suction Head (NPSH)
 Cavitation Number
(Thoma coefficient)
Besides Net positive suction head (NPSH), another
parameter (Cavitation number) is used for cavitation
design
Cavitation number (Thoma Coefficient, ) is the ratio
of NPSH and the total pump head (H).
= NPSH/H
For two similar pumps head coefficients are same
Ch1= Ch2= gH/(w2D2)
So by substituting NPSH for H we can get
2 2
NPSH1 N1 D1
=
NPSH 2 N 2 D2
 Problem

Cavitation tests were performed on a pump giving the

following results: Q = 0.05 cu.m/s; H= 37 m; barometric
pressure 760 mm of mercury; ambient temperature 25 C.
Cavitation began when the total head at pump inlet was 4 m.
Calculate the value of Thoma cavitation coefficient and the
NPSH.
What would be the maximum height of this pump above
water level if it is to operate at the same point on its
characteristic in the ambient conditions of a barometric
pressure 640 mm of Mercury and a temperature of 10 C
[Ans 0.162, 6.086 m. 2.55 m. Douglas 25.11]
 Problem
For the system shown in Fig P12.6 water at
20 C flows through the pump at a rate of 50
L/s. The allowable NPSH provided by the
manufacturer at that flow is 3 m. By using
the vapor pressure from the table determine
the height z above the water surface that the
pump can be located to operate without
cavitating. Include all losses in the suction
pipe of .1 m dia. [Potter 12.6]
Figure P12.6
Figure 12.26
Cavitation
considerations:
(a) schematic;
(b) representative
cavitation number
curve. (Courtesy of
Voith Siemens
Hydro Generation,
Inc.)