To investigate the hydraulic characteristics of centrifugal pumps during rapid transient processes and optimize their startup strategies，transient tests under various startup conditions were carried out on a marine centrifugal pump with a specific speed of 102.Based on a transient hydraulic performance test platform with a synchronous data acquisition system，the effects of five rotational speed variation curves and four startup times on the transient characteristics of pump startup were compared and analyzed under the conditions of rated speed of 1 450 r/min and design flow rate of 25 m³/h.The results show that under a fixed startup mode，the impact head decreases with increasing startup time.The startup acceleration has a significant effect on the impact head.Under the same startup time，the exponential startup curve produces the smallest impact head due to its lower acceleration in the final stage，with corresponding values of 6.923，6.872，6.865 and 6.836 m for the four startup times.The head overshoot rate is proposed as an indicator for evaluating the transient response of centrifugal pumps during startup.This parameter gradually decreases with time，and its variation trend exhibits an obvious concave curve characteristic.The head overshoot rate for the exponential startup mode is always the lowest，with values of 1.011 8，1.004 7，1.002 7，and 1.001 3，respectively.The exponential startup mode can effectively suppress head impact and is an ideal startup scheme for centrifugal pumps.This study can provide experimental basis and reference for the evaluation of startup status and optimization of operating performance of centrifugal pumps.