COMPARISON OF EROSION MECHANISMS IN DIFFERENT TYPES OF CAVITATION

A new cavitation erosion device producing vortex cavitation has been extensively used. A comparative study between various cavitation erosion situations was carried out to verify the ability of this vortex cavitation generator to produce realistic cavitation erosion with respect to that observed in hydraulic machinery. For this purpose, specimens of indium and alpha plus beta brass were subjected to different cavitation erosion situations in a Francis turbine model, a cavitation water tunnel, a vibratory cavitation device and our vortex cavitation generator. The surface deformation and the development of damage in exposed specimens were examined using scanning electron microscopy.