With the large flow rate and high pump head, double-suction centrifugal pumps are widely used in irrigation pumping stations along the Yellow River. However, the performance of these pumps is affected by the characteristics of silt particles in water flow, which has been seldom studied. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the effects of the silt concentration and silt size on pump performance by devising a new experiment for a double-suction centrifugal pump. The results show that the pump head and the shaft power are lower compared with that of pure water condition due to the presence of silt, and decrease as the silt concentration and silt particle size increase. Furthermore, at the low flow rates, the efficiency of the pump under silt-laden water condition is found to be higher than that under pure water condition. A relationship is then established as a function of silt parameters for the head reduction factors of the double-suction centrifugal pump. This relationship can help pump manufactures predict the head of a double-suction centrifugal pump for given silt-laden water. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.