Theoretical Analysis of Cavitation in Inducers With Unequal Blades With Alternate Leading Edge Cutback: Part II—Effects of the Amount of Cutback

In Part I, it was found that the alternate blade cutback of the leading edge causes a peculiar behavior in the development of steady cavitation. A stability analysis showed that the alternate blade cutback can reduce the onset region of rotating cavitation by enhancing the stability of alternate blade cavitation. In this report, we examine the effects of the amount of cutback. It was found that the development of steady cavity is significantly different depending on the amount of cutback. Those steady cavity developments are explained by the interaction of local flow near the cavity closure with the leading edge of the opposing blade just in the same way as for the development of alternate blade cavitation. It is also shown that the range of cavitation number with stable cavitation can be increased by increasing the amount of cutback. [S0098-2202(00)00502-2]