The effect of erosion on hydraulic machine performance

Seawater pumped storage consists of pumping water from the sea to an upper reservoir to store electricity. The use of seawater as the fluid results in an erosion mechanism due to the presence of solid particles. In this paper, we study the effect of the fluid content on the performance of low-head pumps in the blade-to-blade section. The loss of blade thickness may cause damage due to the water pressure applied to the blade section. From our study, we conclude that the resulting erosion depends on the absolute velocity distribution whereas the thickness loss depends on the particle size, density, and velocity. For hydraulic pumps, erosion of the blades is more likely to occur at their trailing edge. A reduction of the blade orthogonal thickness to 10% results in flow deflection.