Abstract: The abrasion of water pump by silt is a key problem to be considered in the operation and management of pump stations. Scoured by silt-carrying flow, the over-flow parts of water pump are subject to obvious abrasion, which shortens the service life of water pump and reduces the operating efficiency of pump station. With the Huangjinxia hydro-junction of Hanjiang-to-Weihe River Water Diversion Project as a case study, we investigated into the silt abrasion characteristics of different alternative materials for the wearing parts through sediment abrasion experiment on the hydraulic mechanical abrasion test system—rotary disc circulation station. Our findings demonstrated that the depth of material abrasion grew with the increase of measuring point’s radius. The median diameter of silt also had a significant effect on the abrasion, with the abrasion deepening with the increase of silt’s median diameter. Furthermore, we established the expression of abrasion rate based on the experimental results, hence estimating the abrasion amount of candidate materials, and finally determined the appropriate base material for water pump. In addition, we proposed some measures to alleviate the abrasion of water pump in the purpose of reducing the cost of operation and maintenance of pump station.

Key words: water pump, silt abrasion experiment, abrasion evaluation model, abrasion rate, Huangjinxia hydrojunction