Experimental study on cavitation inhibition in a butterfly valve with different plate shapes

A valve is a kind of mechanical device used to control the flow of fluid in pipelines or systems, which has a wide range of uses in various industrial, commercial, and household applications. When the fluid passes through the valve, cavitation often occurs in the valve, resulting in the valve not working properly and even damaging the valve and related systems. In this paper, experimental visualization was used to investigate cavitation evolution through a butterfly valve with different plate shapes under different pressure conditions. The results show that with the increase in the curvature of both sides of the butterfly plate and the increase in the total pressure condition, the cavitation type inside the butterfly valve will change from non-attached cavitation to attached cavitation. In addition, the maximum length and thickness of the attached cavitation bubbles gradually increase as well. However, when the shape of both ends of the butterfly plate is triangular, the adhesion ability to cavitation bubbles is greatly reduced. As the curvature increases, the frequency of the shedding of cavitation bubble gradually decreases, the volume of cavitation bubble increases, and the shedding of the cavitation bubble caused by the shock wave is more obvious. When the shape of both sides of the butterfly plate is triangular, the position where the bubble collapses is closer to the front end of the butterfly plate, and the shock wave generated by the bubble collapse will lead to the collapse of the attached cavitation bubble.