A parametric study of the cavitation inception behavior of a mixed-flow impeller using a three-dimensional potential flow model

1 The computed cavitation inception is validated by cavitation inception measurements. Computed and measured results show a good agreement for a wide range of operating conditions. A number of mixed-flow impellers has been developed using the same design strategy in order to investigate the influence of the number of blades and the leading-edge position (forward/backward swept) on cavitation inception. It is found that a larger number of impeller blades results in a flatter cavitation inception curve for flow rates below the best cavitation point. Furthermore, the cavitation inception performance of the forward-swept impellers is superior to the backward-swept impeller.