Multiple engineering projects have confirmed that hydraulic machinery operating in sediment-laden rivers undergoes sediment abrasion. Guide vanes are among the most severely worn flow-passing components and have long been a key research focus in hydraulic machinery. In this research, a wear test of the NACA0012 cascade under a 10° incoming flow angle was carried out in the Venturi test system, and the evolution process of the wear was analyzed. The three-dimensional flow channel of the cascade was constructed, and the Finnie wear model was adopted for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to analyze the wear mechanism at the initial stage. The results indicate that abrasion primarily occurs at the airfoil’s leading edge and progresses through three stages: initiation, development, and stabilization. The calculated results closely matched the latest wear outcomes: In the initial stage, the wear rate density was influenced by the particle impact velocity, angle, volume fraction, and y-direction shear stress. A low-velocity zone near the impact point, combined with rebounding particles causing secondary impacts, increases the particle volume fraction and wear rate density. These secondary impacts are the primary causes of erosion on both the upstream and downstream surfaces. Furthermore, flow separation downstream from the leading edge makes this region highly susceptible to wear. This study provides valuable insights for addressing wear in hydraulic machinery for practical engineering applications.

Multiple engineering projects have confirmed that hydraulic machinery operating in sediment-laden rivers suffers from sediment abrasion. Guide vanes are among the most severely worn flow-passing components and have long been a key research focus in hydraulic machinery. This study conducted wear tests using asymmetric incoming flow with a 10° impact angle and an NACA0012 aluminum alloy airfoil as the research object. The development of wear was analyzed, revealing that it primarily occurs at the airfoil’s leading edge and progresses through three stages: initiation, development, and stabilization. The Finnie model was used to analyze the initial wear mechanism, with calculated results closely matching the latest wear outcomes. In the initial stage, wear rate density was influenced by particle impact velocity, angle, volume fraction, and y-direction shear stress. A low-velocity zone near the impact point, combined with rebounding particles causing secondary impacts, increases particle volume fraction and wear rate density. These secondary impacts are the primary causes of wear on both the upstream and downstream surfaces. Furthermore, flow separation downstream of the leading edge makes this region highly susceptible to wear. This study provides valuable insights for addressing wear in hydraulic machinery for practical engineering applications.