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Flow and cavitation characteristics of a damping orice in water hydraulics

Liu Yinshui , Zhu Bihai, Zhu Yuquan, and Li Zhuangyun School of Mechanical Science and Engineering, Department of Mechatronic Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, Peoples Republic of China The manuscript was received on 5 May 2006 and was accepted after revision for publication on 31 July 2006. DOI: 10.1243/09576509JPE323

Abstract: The ow in damping orices when using water as the working media is of high Reynolds number and cavitation is inevitable. In this article, experimental studies are made on the ow and cavitation characteristics of water hydraulic orices and the coefcient formulae in previous documents are testied with the Reynolds number ranging from 104 to 105. All the orices are made of transparent materials, so the ow and the occurrence process of the cavitation can be observed with the naked eye. The experiments for each orice are carried out under the two cases with and without backpressure, respectively. Experimental results show that the ow coefcient with backpressure is larger than the case without it. The larger the aspect ratio, the less the ow characteristics are inuenced by backpressure. The cavitation rst occurs at the inlet of orices and then shifts to the outlet gradually. When there is cavitation happening at the outlet, ow saturation emerges simultaneously. Keywords: water hydraulics, ow characteristics, damping orice, cavitation

INTRODUCTION

The damping orice is often used in water hydraulic components. For example, a damping orice is placed in the main valve in a piloted relief valve, and the main valve is opened once the force due to the pressure drop across the orice is larger than that exerted by the spring and friction. In a water hydraulic pump, a damping orice is also used in the design of static and dynamic hydraulic bearings. Therefore, the ow coefcient and cavitation characteristics of orices are the important parameters for the design of water hydraulic components. Many researchers carried out theoretical and experimental investigations into the characteristics of ow passing through damping orices. Lichtarowicz et al. [1] reported experimental investigations of the discharge coefcients for non-cavitating

Corresponding author: School of Mechanical Science and

Engineering, Department of Mechatronic Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, No. 1037, Luoyu Road, Hongshan District, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, Peoples Republic of China. email: liuwater@tom.com

incompressible ow through orices, and an empirical formula for the discharge coefcient of orices with a chosen value of l/d in the range 2 10 was proposed. Pearce and Lichtarowicz [2] found that the values of the discharge coefcient were dened in terms of the cavitation number, k, and contraction coefcient, Cc, for cavitating ow through sharpedged orices. Koivula and Ellman [3] conducted a study on the cavitation behaviour of hydraulic orices and valves. They pointed out that cavitation can be reduced by altering the operating conditions, such as downstream pressure, owrate, or temperature. In their researches, kerosene was used as the working uids. Yamaguchi et al. [4, 5] carried out experiments on cavitation in long orices and derived formulae for the cavitation limits in critical cavitating and choking ows. They made a series of studies using mineral oil, water glycol uid, spindle oil, high water-based uid (HWBF), and tap water as the working media and orices made of brass, acrylic resin, and stainless steel. In their report, the effects of uid properties and orice material on cavitation were discussed. They suggested that the growth rate of cavitation nuclei increased with a decrease in the viscosity of working media because the

JPE323 # IMechE 2006

Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part A: J. Power and Energy