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Water hydraulic axial piston motor cavitation characteristics based on CFD technology

Lijie Yang (College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Hebei University of Engineering, Handan, China)
Shuai Yin (Luoyang Ship Material Research Institute, Luoyang, China)
Qingna Niu (College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Hebei University of Engineering, Handan, China)

World Journal of Engineering

ISSN: 1708-5284

Article publication date: 12 June 2017

185

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the cavitation characteristics of a water hydraulic axial piston motor (WHAPM) to improve the water motor performance, to reduce the vibration and noise and to prolong the service life of the motor.

Design/methodology/approach

The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software PumpLinx is chosen to do cavitation analysis of the WHAPM. In this case, first, cavitation mechanism of the water piston motor is analyzed in depth. Then, considering the effects of bubble dynamics, the rate of phase transition, turbulence effects and non-condensable gas, the full cavitation model is selected, the dynamic CFD numerical model of internal flow field on the water hydraulic piston motor is established based on PumpLinx software and the fluid cavitation inside is numerically studied. Finally, the influence of the valve plate and pistons on motor cavitation is analyzed.

Findings

Research results show that there are two serious cavitation regions: one is the pressure transition region of the valve plate that is near the top dead center, and the other is the low-pressure region of the piston that is near the low-pressure transition area. Moreover, the more serious cavitation area is on the valve plate region.

Originality/value

The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm is able to detect the cavitation characteristics of the water piston motor. Besides, it is deduced that valve-plate structure optimization is more important than pistons to reduce cavitation influence.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (51375018), the Science and Technology Research Project of Hebei Province (ZD2016050) and the Special Fund for Doctors of Hebei University of Engineering.

Citation

Yang, L., Yin, S. and Niu, Q. (2017), "Water hydraulic axial piston motor cavitation characteristics based on CFD technology", World Journal of Engineering, Vol. 14 No. 3, pp. 231-236. https://doi.org/10.1108/WJE-11-2016-0144

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited

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