The influence of plenum volume on surge phenomenon in a centrifugal blower was studied by means of quasidynamic analysis. In this procedure, signals were gathered at 5 pressure tappings at 146 different positions of the throttling valve controlling the mass flow rate. Frequency spectra obtained by means of Fourier analysis are combined together in the form of colour maps with frequency as the abscissa and valve position as the ordinate. Such a map provides high-resolution information about spectral structures of pressure signals attained at different mass flow rates. Analysis was conducted at two system configurations characterized by different volumes between the blower and the valve i.e. plenum volume. Research confirmed that in both cases the first disturbances appear in the vicinity of the impeller leading edge in the same position of a throttling valve before the surge. Arising flow structure is characterized by strong and random pressure jumps and does not have any dominating frequency. At further valve closure pressure disturbances propagate towards the volute and at deep surge the strongest peaks are observed at the outlet. The moment of deep surge onset is also independent of the plenum volume, however, a difference is observed in the frequency and amplitude of the main modes. With the higher outlet volume the observed oscillations fit well to the frequency of a Helmholtz resonator while, in the case of the smaller volume, the frequency is higher than the frequency of a corresponding Helmholtz resonator.
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