Genesis of Researches on Surges in Pumping Systems in Japan

Researches on the mechanism of surging and the surge behaviors in the systems of pumps, or fans or compressors, and the effects of flow-paths had been initiated and had made a great progress in Japan in the decades from the nineteen-forties to the nineteen-sixties. In 1947, the essential cause of the surges, i.e., self-excited oscillation nature of the flow-system, was discovered analytically by Professor Sumiji Fujii of Tokyo University, and most of the characteristic behaviors of the phenomena had been explained clearly. Successive studies by many other Japanese researchers continued to prove experimentally the mechanism, to extend the analytical studies, and to attempt preventing surge occurrence, etc. in the following two decades. The historical information on the early surge studies could be helpful to some concerned people. At the same time, the basic and plain ways of discussions and reasoning about the phenomena in the pioneering researches could give us much to be learned even in the present time of high-power computing systems. Regrettably, many of the original research works have been published only in Japanese. The present review introduces very briefly the situations in memories of the pioneering researchers and engineers.