Investigation of Pressure Hammer with Wire Mesh Sensor and High Speed Imaging Techniques

Previous water hammer tests have revealed pressure spikes in the cavitation area. With the aim of explaining the phenomena and enhancing the understanding of the pressure hammer phenomenon in general, a high speed imaging (HSI) setup was installed at the test bench. To complement the high speed imaging a wire mesh sensor was used. The wire mesh sensor (WMS) allowed the measurement of the cross-sectional void fracture distribution in the pipe while the flow was cavitating. The results of the measurements will be presented and discussed.