10th International Conference and Exposition on Electrical and Power Engineering (EPE2018)
Preventive Maintenance of Hydraulic Installations
Based on Monitoring Cavitation-Induced Vibrations
Andrei Dragomirescu, Carmen-Anca Safta,
Lucian Mândrea,
Department of Hydraulics, Hydraulic Machinery and
Environmental Engineering
University Politehnica of Bucharest
Bucharest, Romania
andrei.dragomirescu@gmail.com;
safta.carmenanca@gmail.com
Abstract—This paper presents results of experimental
investigations on the frequency domains of cavitation-induced
vibrations at an orifice plate and at a butterfly valve. These are
two components that are often encountered in hydraulic
installations. Orifice plates are usually used for measuring the
flow rate, but they can also be used for restricting the flow.
Butterfly valves are normally used to quickly shut off the flow
and, to some extent, for throttling the flow (i.e. for adjusting the
flow rate). Under certain operating conditions, cavitation and the
accompanying damage can occur both at orifice plates and at
butterfly valves. The results presented in this paper suggest that
cavitation caused both by butterfly valves and by orifice plates
seems to be indicated by high frequency vibrations having local
maxima at roughly 18 kHz. From a practical point of view, these
results could be used for preventive maintenance in industrial
hydraulic installations.
Keywords—hydraulic installations, industrial fittings,
cavitation, vibration monitoring, vibration analysis, preventive
maintenance
I. INTRODUCTION
Hydraulic piping systems are often subjected to flow-
induced vibrations due to various phenomena, such as pressure
fluctuations, turbulence, water hammer, or cavitation.
Regardless of their nature, vibrations can cause fatigue failure
in process pipelines. As a result, the pipes are broken by
cracking and all the hydraulic equipment – including pumps,
valves, branch connectors, etc. – can suffer damages. For this
reason, in hydraulic systems working with water, hydraulic oil,
or other Newtonian liquids, the monitoring of vibration and
noise levels is an important tool in preventive maintenance [1]
that aims at avoiding or, at least, mitigating the consequences
of equipment failure.
This paper presents results of experimental investigations
on the frequency domains of cavitation-induced vibrations in
water piping systems. Two different installations are
investigated, each of them having an orifice plate mounted on
the suction pipe of a centrifugal pump that supplies the system.
In addition, one of the installations has a butterfly valve
mounted on the pressure pipe. In both installations cavitation
can occur under certain flow conditions.
978-1-5386-5062-2/18/$31.00 ©2018 European Union
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Nicolae Oranu, Ioan Maghei
Department of Mechanics
University Politehnica of Bucharest
Bucharest, Romania
ioan_magheti@yahoo.com;
norasanu62@gmail.com
Orifice plates and butterfly valves are often encountered in
hydraulic installations. Orifice plates are usually used for
measuring the flow rate, but they can also be used for reducing
the pressure or for restricting the flow. Butterfly valves are
normally used to quickly shut off the flow, but they can also be
used for throttling the flow (i.e. for adjusting the flow rate).
The common characteristic of orifice plates and butterfly
valves is that they cause a local contraction of the pipe cross-
section, that leads to a local increase in flow velocity and,
consequently, to a local decrease in static pressure.
Cavitation is a phenomenon that consists in the appearance
of vapor-filled bubbles inside a flowing liquid when the static
pressure inside the liquid drops locally below the vapor
pressure. The bubbles are then transported by the liquid flow
and, when regions of pressure higher than the vapor pressure
are reached, they implode (collapse) abruptly. The implosion is
due to micro-jets that penetrate the boundaries of the bubbles at
extremely high velocities. Cavitation is accompanied locally by
different phenomena, such as very high local pressures and
temperatures that can trigger chemical and electrochemical
processes. When cavitation is not or cannot be controlled in
hydraulic installations, the accompanying phenomena lead
globally to excessive levels of vibrations and noise, to sudden
decreases in the performance of hydraulic machines, and to the
destruction by erosion and corrosion of the sensitive
components of an installation, such as valves or
turbomachinery runners and impellers.
Different experimental studies approached the
hydrodynamic behavior of valves and orifices under cavitation
conditions. Rudolf et al. monitored pressure fluctuations
caused by cavitation for different types of orifice plates,
including a single-hole orifice, and observed that the frequency
spectra of the pressure signals became noisy under cavitation
conditions [2]. Nagaya et al. performed an acoustic study of the
cavitating flow at an orifice plate and noted that cavitation
caused an increase in noise levels at frequencies that are
generally higher than 1 kHz and particularly higher than
6.3 kHz [3]. Testuda et al. observed that the acoustical power
spectra downstream of a cavitating orifice exhibit a hump form
in the upper frequency range (above 200 Hz) [4].
 To measure cavitation induced vibrations either
microphones, as no-contact technique, or accelerometers, as
contact technique, can be used. The results obtained are similar
[3] and all cavitation stages – non-cavitation (N), incipient (I),
light (L), moderate (M), heavy (H), very heavy (VH), and
super-cavitation (S) – can be detected [5]. The experimental
results show that, as cavitation intensity increases, the values of
the cavitation number  decrease regardless of the orifice
type [3-6]. The cavitation number is the ration of the difference
between the absolute fluid pressure p and the vapor pressure
pv of the fluid to the kinetic energy per unit volume,
‫݌‬ஶ െ ‫݌‬௩
ɐൌ ǡ (1)
ͲǤͷߩܸஶଶ
where ܸஶ is the fluid velocity and ߩ is the fluid density.
In the literature, most of the theoretical, numerical, and
experimental studies are focused on the static characteristics of
orifices (with one hole or multiple holes) and valves [7, 8]. The
studies are devoted to single phase flows and to two-phase
flows for the case of incipient cavitation. Presently, CFD
models can predict high-pressure flows through orifices [7], yet
the numerical predictions must be validated experimentally.
The experimental prediction of the noise generated by orifice
plates should be conducted according to IEC 534-8-4:1994.
New prediction techniques are also developed [9, 10].
Experimental studies found in the literature present
measurements of vibrations or noise caused by flows through
orifices or valves, without considering the influence of the
pumps that supply the experimental installations. A pump is
itself a source of vibrations that are added to the vibrations
induced by the fluid flow inside the installation [11]. Contrary
to what is currently available in the literature, the presence of
the pump in the experimental installation will also be
considered in this paper.
II. EXPERIMENTAL INSTALLATIONS
The experimental investigations were carried out on two
installations. The first installation (Fig. 1) contains the tested
orifice plate, while the second installation (Fig. 2) contains the
tested butterfly valve. Each installation is an open loop system
consisting in a suction pipe, a centrifugal pump, a throttling
valve, a pressure pipe, and a free-surface water tank to which
both the suction pipe and the pressure pipe are connected. The
Fig. 1. Experimental installation for testing the orifice plate.
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Fig. 2. Experimental installation for testing the butterfly valve.
pumps are driven by three-phase AC motors with rated speeds
of 1460 rpm. It should be noted that the motors have 2 pole
pairs and, hence, 4 poles. The tested orifice plate has the
diameters D = 51 mm and d = 35.5 mm and is installed on the
suction pipe of the first installation. Although it is uncommon
to install a hydraulic resistance in general and an orifice plate
in particular on the suction pipe of a pump, this solution was
adopted to favor the inception of cavitation. Moreover, to
trigger cavitation even faster, the inner diameter of the test
section where the orifice plate is installed is smaller than the
inner diameter of the pump intake. However, the test section is
placed at roughly 1.2 m above the pump to allow the pressure
recovery required in order to avoid cavitation at the pump
inlet. The tested butterfly valve is of wafer type, rubber-lined,
and is installed in the pressure pipe of the second installation,
which has the inner diameter D = 104 mm. To avoid the
closing of the valve flap under the influence of the
hydrodynamic forces and moments, the valve is provided with
a blocking mechanism that allows the adjustment of the valve
angle between 0° (fully opened) and 90° (fully closed) in
increments of 10°. To measure the discharge, the second
installation is also provided with its own orifice plate mounted
on the suction pipe.
The vibration levels were measured with Brüel & Kjaer
DeltaTron accelerometers with built-in preamplifier, connected
to a laptop via a portable bus-powered USB carrier from
National Instruments. All the accelerometers have the reference
sensitivity of 20 m/s2 RMS at 159.2 Hz and the measuring
range of +/-7000 m/s2 peak. For the tested orifice plate (Fig. 1),
the vibrations were measured close to the pump intake (point
P1), downstream and upstream of the plate (points P2 and P3
respectively), on the pump casing (point P), on the bearings
housing (point B), and on the AC motor (point M). For the
tested butterfly valve (Fig. 2), the vibrations were measured in
three locations downstream of the pump (points P1, P2, and
P3), upstream and downstream of the valve (points P4 and P5
respectively), on the water tank (point P6), in three locations on
the suction pipe (points P7, P8, and P9), on the pump casing
(point P), on the bearings housing (point B), and on the AC
motor (point M). On each figure, the labels of the points
indicate on which side of the pipe the accelerometers were
placed.
On each installation, the measurements were carried out in
two stages. In the first stage, the throttling valve was closed to
prevent the flow and the vibrations associated with the flow
phenomena. The vibration levels were measured only on the
motor (point M), on the bearings housing (point B), and on the
pump casing (point P). This procedure was adopted to highlight
those vibrations caused by the motor, bearings, and pump.
In the second stage, the throttling valve in the installation
with the tested orifice plate was opened progressively, until a
high intensity cavitation was reached. For each opening of the
throttling valve, the pressure drop on the tested orifice plate
and the vibration levels at points P1 to P3 were recorded.
Based on the pressure drops, the flow rates were calculated
according to the procedure recommended by ISO 5167-2 [12].
Using the values of the flow rates, the corresponding Reynolds
numbers at the tested orifice plate were estimated.
On the installation with the tested butterfly valve, the
throttling valve was kept fully opened during the second stage
of the measurements. The butterfly valve was closed
progressively from the fully opened position, in which the
valve angle  equals 0°, to valve angles of 30°, 40°, and 50°.
For each valve angle, the pressure drop was measured on the
orifice plate mounted on the suction pipe and the vibration
levels at the measuring points P1 to P9 were recorded. Based
on the pressure drops, the flow rates and the corresponding
Reynolds numbers at the butterfly valve were calculated
according to ISO 5167-2 [12].
Fig. 4. FFTs of the vibrations measured on the motor (M), bearings housing
All the pressure drops were measured with U-shaped (B), and pump (P) of the installation with the tested butterfly valve.
differential manometers with mercury.
valves fully closed. It can be seen that the results obtained on
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION the two installations are clearly similar. In terms of
Fast Fourier Transforms (FFTs) of the vibrations measured accelerations, the fundamental frequency of roughly 24.3 Hz
on the motors, bearings housings, and pumps are presented in is clearly visible on the installation with the tested orifice plate
Fig. 3 and Fig. 4. The values of the RMS accelerations are and less visible, yet not completely absent, on the installation
indicated on each diagram. The Reynolds numbers equal to with the tested butterfly valve.
zero indicate that the results were obtained with the throttling It can be noticed that the AC motors do not introduce high
levels of vibrations, the highest amplitudes being below
2 m/s2. The motors are not influenced by the bearings either,
since the motor shafts and the pump shafts are coupled with
elastic bush pin couplings that significantly dampen shocks
and vibrations. The bearings, however, are very “noisy”
mostly in the frequency domain spanning roughly from 250
Hz to 10 kHz and even beyond. The peaks seem to be grouped
more or less on three frequency subdomains: (i) from 250 Hz
to 600 Hz, (ii) from 600 Hz to 3.5 kHz, and (iii) from 3.5 kHz
to 10 kHz. In particular, the amplitudes show two peaks higher
than 3 m/s2 between 1 kHz and 2 kHz. The aforementioned
grouping is most probably related to the different causes of the
vibrations: (i) the wear of the bearings, that, in particular,
could produce the peaks in the frequency domain up to
600 Hz, (ii) the imbalance caused by the cantilevered
impellers of the centrifugal pumps, and (iii) the hydrodynamic
interaction at the pump outlet between the pump impeller and
the volute tongue, which remains present even under
conditions of zero flow rate and which causes an additional
imbalance of the impellers. We could only assume that the
hydrodynamic interaction leads to high frequency pressure
pulsations that are propagated back and forth between the
impellers and the closed throttling valves and that are
Fig. 3. FFTs of the vibrations measured on the motor (M), bearings housing subsequently transmitted by the impellers through the shafts to
(B), and pump (P) of the installation with the tested oriffice plate. the bearings. It is, however, difficult at this moment to

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properly identify the frequency domain of these pressure
pulsations. For this purpose, additional measurements using
pressure transducers are required.
Finally, the vibrations measured on the pump show some
similarities with the vibrations of the bearings housings. This
is rather normal since the bearings housings and the pumps
casings are rigidly assembled. A cause of the lower amplitudes
of the vibrations measured on the pump casings might be the
additional stiffness due to the suction and pressure pipes, with
which the pump casings are also rigidly assembled.
Fig. 5 and Fig. 6 show FFTs of the vibrations measured on
the installation with the tested orifice plate, at points P1 (at
pump inlet), P2 (downstream of the orifice plate), and P3
(upstream of the orifice plate), in two extreme cases: the
lowest flow rate for which measurements were carried out
(Fig. 5) and the highest flow rate which was accompanied by a
high-intensity cavitation (Fig. 6). The extreme cases were
chosen for this study to better highlight the behavior of the
orifice plate under cavitation conditions. The diagrams also
summarize the RMS accelerations at each measuring point and
the Reynolds numbers corresponding to the flow rates.
When Fig. 5 and Fig. 6 are compared, it is interesting to note
that the increase in flow rate and the subsequent occurrence of
cavitation leads to a decrease in the vibration levels at the pump Fig. 6. FFTs of vibrations measured in the installation with the tested orifice
plate at the highest flow rate.
inlet (i.e. at point P1). This is clearly indicated by the decrease
in the amplitude peaks in the range 1-2 kHz, by the strong vibrations is most probably the shedding of the vortex ring
flattening of the peaks above 2 kHz, and by the corresponding downstream of the orifice plate.
decrease in the value of the RMS acceleration. Under cavitation conditions, the picture downstream of the
In the absence of cavitation, the vibrations downstream the orifice plate changes significantly. As shown in Fig. 6, the
orifice plate, at point P2 in Fig. 5, are relatively low and vibration levels increase at point P2, which is clearly indicated
practically absent above 5 kHz. At point P3, upstream of the by the increase in the value of the RMS acceleration.
orifice plate, the vibrations are even lower. The source of Additionally, visible amplitude peaks appear above 5 kHz and,
most noticeably, an almost isolated peak becomes visible at
roughly 18 kHz. Upstream of the orifice plate, the influence of
cavitation is rather insignificant.
The behavior of the tested butterfly valve shows some
interesting similarities with the tested orifice plate. Fig. 7 and
Fig. 8 show FFTs of the vibrations measured on the
installation with the butterfly valve, at points P8 (at the pump
inlet), P4 (upstream of the butterfly valve), and P5
(downstream of the valve). Again, two extreme cases were
considered:  = 0°, i.e. fully opened valve (in Fig. 7), for
which the highest flow rate was attained, and  = 50°, for
which the flow rate had the lowest value of all the
measurements. We should mention here that, during the
measurements, we observed that the cavitation occurred after
changing the valve angle from  = 30° to  = 40° and that the
cavitation intensity increased dramatically at  = 50°.
For  = 0°, in the absence of cavitation (Fig. 7), the
vibration levels at point P5, downstream of the fully opened
valve, are low and the vibrations are almost absent at
frequencies above 6 kHz. Upstream of the valve, in point P4,
the vibration levels are higher and show some similarities with
the vibrations of higher amplitudes recorded at the pump inlet,
at point P8. This suggests that some vibrations are propagated
Fig. 5. FFTs of vibrations measured in the installation with the tested orifice from the pump to the butterfly valve, being dampened along
plate at the lowest flow rate. the pipe. It also seems that the valve itself acts as a damper,

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Fig. 7. FFTs of the vibrations measured on the installation with the tested
butterfly valve fully opened at  = 0°.
Fig. 8. FFTs of the vibrations measured on the installation with the tested
butterfly valve partly opened at  = 50°.
since the vibration levels are lower downstream than upstream
of the valve. The damping effect of the valve is most probably
caused, on the one hand, by the inner thick rubber sleeve that
seals the valve flap against the valve body and the valve ports
against the adjacent pipe flanges, and, on the other hand, by
the mounting between flanges with long bolts, that offers
some degree of flexibility.
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Fig. 9. Variations of the RMS acceleration depending on the Reynolds number
a) downstream of the tested orifice plate and b) downstream of the tested
butterfly valve.
For  = 50°, in the presence of cavitation, the vibration
levels at point P5 downstream of the valve increase
dramatically, as it can be seen in Fig. 8. The RMS acceleration
is more than ten times larger than the value recorded for the
fully opened valve. In the high frequency range, the vibrations
amplitudes increase mostly at frequencies above 3 kHz.
Moreover, as in the case of the tested orifice plate, a distinct
peak appears at frequencies of about 18 kHz. Another
similarity with the orifice plate is the fact that the occurrence
of cavitation downstream of the butterfly valve has only a
marginal influence upstream of the valve, at point P4.
Variations of the RMS accelerations depending on the
Reynolds number downstream of the tested equipment are
plotted in Fig. 9. The domains of Reynolds numbers were
divided in no cavitation and cavitation subdomains based on
the observations made during the measurements. It can be
seen that at the orifice plate (Fig. 9a) the RMS accelerations
remain almost constant as the Reynolds number increases (i.e.
as flow rate increases) until the inception of cavitation, i.e. up
to Re ≈ 2×105. The occurrence of cavitation is accompanied
by a slight increase in the RMS acceleration followed by a
sudden decrease. Considering the study of Rudolf et al. [2] as
well, it can be assumed that the sudden decrease in the RMS
acceleration at the inception of cavitation is due to a
significant change in the shedding of the vortex ring
downstream of the orifice plate, while, in the same time, the
effects of cavitation are not important yet. Subsequently, as
the cavitation intensity increases with increasing Reynolds
number, the decay and disintegration of the cavitating vortex
ring could explain the strong vibrations indicated by the
abruptly increasing RMS accelerations at Re > 3×105.
 At the butterfly valve (Fig. 9b) the operation was non-
cavitating for valve angles of 0° and 30° (the last two points to
the right of the plot). High intensity cavitation was observed
when the valve angle was changed from 30° to 40°. However,
it was not possible to precisely find the valve angle at which
the cavitation occurs because of the blocking mechanism of
the valve flap that allows the adjustment of the valve angle
only in increments of 10°. Hence, it was not possible to firmly
position the valve flap at angles between 30° and 40°.
Nevertheless, it can be noticed that the behavior of the
butterfly valve is similar in some respects to that of the orifice
plate. As long as the flow does not cavitate downstream of the
valve, at Re > 2.8×105, the RMS accelerations remain roughly
constant and have low values. After the occurrence of
cavitation, the RMS accelerations increase abruptly as the
cavitation intensity increases. It might be possible to have a
sudden decrease in the RMS acceleration at the inception of
cavitation at the butterfly valve, similar to that encountered at
the orifice plate. However, due to the limitations in the
adjusting of the valve angle, it was not possible to verify this
assumption.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
Monitoring the vibration levels in a piping system is a
preventive maintenance tool that has clear benefits: increased
safety, reduction in operation risks, increased lifetime, reduced
unplanned downtime, and fewer failures in the installation. In
hydraulic installations, cavitation always becomes a source of
vibrations.
According to the results presented in this study, the
cavitation caused by valves and orifice plates seems to be
indicated by high frequency vibrations having local maxima at
roughly 18 kHz. This frequency was clearly put into evidence
at the butterfly valve as the cavitation intensity increased. The
same frequency was observed at the orifice plate after the
inception of cavitation, yet the vibrations amplitudes were
significantly lower than in the case of the butterfly valve.
Lower frequency vibrations, roughly in the range from 250 Hz
to 10 kHz are most likely caused by the pump and the bearings
as well as by other flow phenomena, such as the hydrodynamic
interaction at the pump outlet between the pump impeller and
the volute tongue, the vortex shedding at throttling valves, pipe
elbows, and other pipe fittings, etc.
The results presented in this paper could be used for
preventive maintenance in installations where cavitation is
likely to occur, in order to prevent severe failures caused by
this undesirable phenomenon.
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