Formation Principle and Characteristics of Self-Supercharging Pulsed Water Jet

Abstract High-pressure pulsed water jet technology has considerable development potential in the field of rock fragmentation. To overcome the shortcomings of existing pulsed jets, a self-supercharging pulsed water jet (SSPWJ) generation method is proposed, which is based on the theory of the pulsed water jet and the principle of hydraulic boosting. The proposed method changes the flow direction of the fluid medium through the valve core to make the piston reciprocate in the cylinder and relies on the effective area difference between the front and rear chambers in the stroke stage of the piston to realize the organic combination of “pulse” and “supercharging” of the jet, thus forming an SSPWJ. On the basis of the formation principle of the SSPWJ, a SSPWJ testing platform was constructed, and tests were performed on the jet pressure acquisition, morphology capture, and granite erosion. Both the jet pressure and the jet morphology exhibited periodic changes, and a higher pulse pressure was obtained at lower inlet pressure. The error of the pressure ratio calculated according to the experimental results was <3% relative to the theoretical design value, confirming the feasibility of the method. The pulse pressure and pulse frequency are controllable; that is, as the inlet flow rate increases in the stroke stage of the piston, the pulse pressure and pulse frequency increase, and the pulse duration decreases. As the inlet flow rate increases in the backward-stroke stage of the piston, the pulse frequency increases, and the pulse pressure and pulse duration remain unchanged. Under the combined action of the water-hammer pressure, high-speed lateral flow, and high-frequency dynamic load of the SSPWJ, local flaky exfoliation was observed when the granite surface was eroded. The results of this study lay the foundation for enriching the theory of pulsed jet generation and expanding its application range.