Effects of a water hammer and cavitation on vibration transients in a reservoir-pipe-valve system

An extraordinary phenomenon with violent oscillation, accompanied by an abnormal “click” sound is observed during the valve closing in a fuel feeding pipe system. A fluctuation model with flow cavitation, in which time-varying stiffness, time-varying damping coefficients and flow cavitation are comprehensively considered, is proposed. On this basis, a dynamic vibration equation is established and an expression of flow pressure at the valve port is derived. The critical displacement of the flow cavitation system is defined. When the vibration amplitude reaches the critical displacement, cavitation occurs. Based on this model, simulation of vibration displacement and flow pressure is given. The simulated transient process shows the phenomena of vibration fluctuation with cavitation. The results are compared with the experimental data measured by a pressure sensor. Under our experimental conditions, the critical displacement of vibration is 1.41mm, and the average relative pressure peak error is 0.022. The comparison between the simulation and experimental results shows that they are in an acceptable agreement.