Hydro-Turbine Cavitation Detection

[MachineryWatch]

I am working on adding capability to an existing hydro-turbine monitoring system. Primarily it is using vibration sensors, both accelerometers and eddy current (proximity) probes. The owner wants to add cavitation detection. I am familiar with the audible sounds pumps make when they cavitate and the appearance of cavitation in the FFT from a pump-mounted accelerometer, and the sound that submarine propellers make when they cavitate, as measured with a hydro-phone. I am not familiar with hydro-turbine cavitation.

A quick Google search revealed a few documents that indicated hydro-turbine cavitation detection can be done in several ways with vib/acoustic type sensors, but that there is a difference between cavitation that is doing damage and cavitation that is not damaging, and the difference is hard to distinguish.

Does anyone have experience with this? If so, please make recommendations/suggestion for sensors and frequency range of interest.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Skip Hartman

http://www.machinerywatch.com

 

[dgallagher]

Skip - Here is a FYI:

http://lmh

http://www.epfl.ch/Publications/Public.pdf/CAVIPU_02_3.pdf

http://www.usbr.gov/wrrl/hs/cavitate.html

Regards,
Dave G.

http://www.reliabilitydirect.com