4. Conclusion

Checking the performance of a pump or pump unit is an important part of product quality control, and only testing can provide a definitive picture of its hydraulic characteristics.

Ongoing progress in numerical flow simulation and increased in-process and in-assembly testing are reducing the gap between forecast and realization, and are tending to reduce the need for testing.

However, flow simulations are currently only reliable in terms of the main average characteristics and in the vicinity of the nominal point. Full knowledge of the characteristics therefore still requires experimental control.

There seems to be a continuing need to check that the machine as a whole is operating correctly, because even if the reliability of equipment produced by manufacturers is improving, the consequences of start-up damage on...