Measurement Of The Fluid Flow Load On A Globe Valve Stem Under Various Cavitation Conditions

TL;DR

This study measures fluid forces on a globe valve stem under cavitation conditions, revealing significant transverse forces and comparing experimental results with CFD simulations to enhance understanding of cavitation effects.

Contribution

It provides detailed force measurements on a scaled globe valve model under various cavitation conditions, including visualization and CFD comparison, which is novel in this context.

Findings

Transverse forces can be as large as axial forces.

Cavitation level has weak influence on transverse force.

High-speed videos improve understanding of cavitation dynamics.

Abstract

The evaluation of fluid forces on the stem is important for wear prediction of valve and actuator guidance parts. While estimating the axial load is straight forward, estimating and/or measuring the side load is more difficult, especially for globe valves. Therefore, measurements are carried out on an ad hoc, scale 1, model of a 2" globe valve. The body is replicated in Plexiglas to enable flow visualization and the original stem is heavily instrumented to allow force measurements in every direction. The flow loop facility used for this experiment is designed to allow fine-tuning of the cavitation intensity. The experiment is run for a set of cavitation conditions, flow rates and disc positions. The results show that the transverse force (perpendicular to the stem) can reach the order of the axial force; thus it should not be ignored. We also observed that it depends very weakly on the cavitation levels. Videos made with a high-speed camera allow an interesting understanding of the fluid flow and the cavitation creation. Moreover, CFD simulations of this experiment, limited to the single phase flow are compared to the experiments. Through the experimental testing, visual observations, and computational predictions, the role of the cavitation on the fluid forces is better understood.