Numerical Prediction of Various Cavitation Erosion Mechanisms

2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ignacijo Biluš ◽  
Marko Hočevar ◽  
Matevž Dular ◽  
Luka Lešnik

Abstract Numerical prediction of cavitation erosion is a great scientific and technological challenge. In the past, many attempts were made—many successful. One of the issues when a comparison between a simulation and erosion experiments is made, is the great difference in time scale. In this work, we do not attempt to obtain quantitatively accurate predictions of erosion process but concentrate qualitatively on cavitation mechanisms with quantitative prediction of pressure pulses which lead to erosion. This is possible, because of our recent experimental work on simultaneous observation of cavitating flow and cavitation erosion by high speed cameras. In this study, the numerical simulation was used to predict details of the cavitation process during the vapor collapse phase. The fully compressible, cavitating flow simulations were performed to resolve the formation of the pressure waves at cavitation collapse. We tried to visualize the mechanisms and dynamics of vapor structures during collapse phase at the Venturi geometry. The obtained results show that unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (URANS) simulation of cavitation is capable of reproducing four out of five mechanisms of cavitation erosion, found during experimental work.

2012 ◽  
Vol 135 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Naoya Ochiai ◽  
Yuka Iga ◽  
Motohiko Nohmi ◽  
Toshiaki Ikohagi

Cavitation erosion is a material damage phenomenon caused by the repeated application of impulsive pressure on a material surface induced by bubble collapse, and the establishment of a method by which to numerically predict cavitation erosion is desired. In the present study, a numerical quantitative prediction method of cavitation erosion in a cavitating flow is proposed. In the present method, a one-way coupled analysis of a cavitating flow field based on a gas-liquid two-phase Navier–Stokes equation (Eulerian) and bubbles in the cavitating flow by bubble dynamics (Lagrangian) is used to treat temporally and spatially different scale phenomena, such as the macroscopic phenomenon of a cavitating flow and the microscopic phenomenon of bubble collapse. Impulsive pressures acting on a material surface are evaluated based on the bubble collapse position, time, and intensity, and the erosion rate is quantitatively predicted using an existing material-dependent relationship between the impulsive energy (square of the impulsive force) and the maximum erosion rate. The erosion rate on a NACA0015 hydrofoil surface in an unsteady transient cavitating flow is predicted by the proposed method. The distribution of the predicted erosion rate corresponds qualitatively to the distribution of an experimental surface roughness increment of the same hydrofoil. Furthermore, the predicted erosion rate considering the bubble nuclei distribution is found to be of the same order of magnitude as the actual erosion rate, which indicates that considering bubble nuclei distribution is important for the prediction of cavitation erosion and that the present prediction method is valid to some degree.


2013 ◽  
Vol 655-657 ◽  
pp. 449-456
Author(s):  
Hong Ming Zhang ◽  
Li Xiang Zhang

The paper presents numerical prediction of cavitation erosion on a Francis turbine runner using CFD code. The SST turbulence model is employed in the Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes equations in this study. A mixture assumption and a finite rate mass transfer model were introduced. The computing domain is discretized with a full three-dimensional mesh system of unstructured tetrahedral shapes. The finite volume method is used to solve the governing equations of the mixture model and the pressure-velocity coupling is handled via a Pressure Implicit with Splitting of Operators(PISO) procedure. Comparison the numerical prediction results with a real runner with cavitation damage, the region of higher volume fraction by simulation with the region of runner cavitation damage is consistent.


2010 ◽  
Vol 24 (13) ◽  
pp. 1441-1444 ◽  
Author(s):  
BIN JI ◽  
XIANWU LUO ◽  
YULIN WU ◽  
XIAOXING PENG ◽  
HONGYUAN XU

Periodically unsteady shedding of partial cavity and forming of cavitation cloud have a great influence on hydraulic performances and cavitation erosion for ship propellers and hydro machines. In the present study, the unsteady cavitating flow around a hydrofoil has been calculated by using the single fluid approach with a developed cavitation mass transfer expression based on the vaporization and condensation of the fluid. The numerical simulation depicted the unsteady shedding of partial cavity, such as the process of cavity developing, breaking off and collapsing in the downstream under the steady incoming flow condition. It is noted that good agreement between the numerical results and that of experiment conducted at a cavitation tunnel is achieved. The cavitating flow field indicates that the cavity shedding was mainly caused by the re-entrant jet near cavity trailing edge, which was also clearly recorded by high-speed photographing.


2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 1211-1216 ◽  
Author(s):  
De-Sheng Zhang ◽  
Da-Zhi Pan ◽  
Hai-Yu Wang ◽  
Wei-Dong Shi

The prediction accuracies of partially-averaged Navier-Stokes model and improved shear stress transport k-? turbulence model for simulating the unsteady cavitating flow around the hydrofoil were discussed in this paper. Numerical results show that the two turbulence models can effectively reproduce the cavitation evolution process. The numerical prediction for the cycle time of cavitation inception, development, detachment, and collapse agrees well with the experimental data. It is found that the vortex pair induced by the interaction between the re-entrant jet and mainstream is responsible for the instability of the cavitation shedding flow.


2021 ◽  
pp. 146808742199863
Author(s):  
Aishvarya Kumar ◽  
Ali Ghobadian ◽  
Jamshid Nouri

This study assesses the predictive capability of the ZGB (Zwart-Gerber-Belamri) cavitation model with the RANS (Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes), the realizable k-epsilon turbulence model, and compressibility of gas/liquid models for cavitation simulation in a multi-hole fuel injector at different cavitation numbers (CN) for diesel and biodiesel fuels. The prediction results were assessed quantitatively by comparison of predicted velocity profiles with those of measured LDV (Laser Doppler Velocimetry) data. Subsequently, predictions were assessed qualitatively by visual comparison of the predicted void fraction with experimental CCD (Charged Couple Device) recorded images. Both comparisons showed that the model could predict fluid behavior in such a condition with a high level of confidence. Additionally, flow field analysis of numerical results showed the formation of vortices in the injector sac volume. The analysis showed two main types of vortex structures formed. The first kind appeared connecting two adjacent holes and is known as “hole-to-hole” connecting vortices. The second type structure appeared as double “counter-rotating” vortices emerging from the needle wall and entering the injector hole facing it. The use of RANS proved to save significant computational cost and time in predicting the cavitating flow with good accuracy.


Author(s):  
Amin Najafi ◽  
Mohammad Saeed Seif

Determination of high-speed crafts’ hydrodynamic coefficients will help to analyze the dynamics of these kinds of vessels and the factors affecting their dynamic stabilities. Also, it can be useful and effective in controlling the vessel instabilities. The main purpose of this study is to determine the coefficients of longitudinal motions of a planing catamaran with and without a hydrofoil using Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes method to evaluate the foil effects on them. Determination of hydrodynamic coefficients by experimental approach is costly and requires meticulous laboratory equipment; therefore, utilizing the numerical methods and developing a virtual laboratory seem highly efficient. In this study, the numerical results for hydrodynamic coefficients of a high-speed craft are verified against Troesch’s experimental results. In the following, after determination of hydrodynamic coefficients of a planing catamaran with and without foil, the foil effects on its hydrodynamic coefficients are evaluated. The results indicate that most of the coefficients are frequency-independent especially at high frequencies.


2018 ◽  
Vol 32 ◽  
pp. 01021
Author(s):  
Ştefan-Mugur Simionescu ◽  
Nilesh Dhondoo ◽  
Corneliu Bălan

In this study, the flow characteristics of an array of two circular, laminar air jets impinging on a smooth solid wall are experimentally and numerically investigated. Direct visualizations using high speed/resolution camera are performed. The evolution of the vortical structures in the area where the jet is deflected from axial to radial direction is emphasized, as well as the interaction between the two jets. A set of CFD numerical simulations in 2D flow domains are performed by using the commercial software Fluent, in the context of Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) modeling. The numerical resultsare compared and validated with the experiments. The vorticity number is computed and plotted at two different positions from the jet nozzle, and a study of its distribution gives a clue on how the jets are interacting with each other in the proximity of the solid wall.


2021 ◽  
Vol 143 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leoluca Scurria ◽  
Tommaso Tamarozzi ◽  
Oleg Voronkov ◽  
Dieter Fauconnier

Abstract When simulating elastohydrodynamic lubrication, two main approaches are usually followed to predict the pressure and fluid film thickness distribution throughout the contact. The conventional approach relies on the Reynolds equation to describe the thin lubricant film, which is coupled to a Boussinesq description of the linear elastic deformation of the solids. A more accurate, yet a time-consuming method is the use of computational fluid dynamics in which the Navier–Stokes equations describe the flow of the thin lubricant film, coupled to a finite element solver for the description of the local contact deformation. This investigation aims at assessing both methods for different lubrication conditions in different elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) regimes and quantify their differences to understand advantages and limitations of both methods. This investigation shows how the results from both approaches deviate for three scenarios: (1) inertial contributions (Re > 1), i.e., thick films, high speed, and low viscosity; (2) high shear stresses leading to secondary flows; and (3) large deformations of the solids leading to inaccuracies of the Boussinesq equation.


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