Numerical analysis of the volume of cavitation cloud in a cavitation tunnel using multiphase computational fluid dynamics simulations

This work is devoted to a computational investigation of the position and volume of the cavitation cloud in a cavitation tunnel. The position of the cavitation cloud and its volume in the cavitation tunnel, determined by numerical analysis with respect to the inlet velocity, allows for the determination of the lower or higher intensity of cavitation erosion within the tunnel of the sample material. A numerical analysis is carried out on a model of a typical cavitation tunnel used to investigate the resistance of structural materials to cavitation erosion. The tunnel under study consists of barricade (upper) and counter-barricade (lower) systems. The numerical analysis is carried out with the following five different values of the velocity in the tunnel inlet: 6 m/s, 9 m/s, 12 m/s, 15 m/s, and 18 m/s in the commercial CFD software – Ansys Fluent 2019 R3. The Schnerr and Sauer cavitation model and shear stress transport (SST) viscous model k-omega are used. The paper analyzes the distribution of velocity, pressure, and volume of the cavitation cloud. On the basis of the performed numerical analyses, the optimal velocity at the inlet to the tunnel of 15 m/s is determined, for which the volume of the cavitation cloud is the largest and the phenomenon of cavitation is the most intense. The determination of the position and maximum volume of the cavitation cloud relative to the inlet velocity to the tunnel will, in future, allow us to shorten the resistance tests for cavitation erosion of different materials under real fluid flow conditions.

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Opracowanie rekordu ze środków MNiSW, umowa nr SONP/SP/546092/2022 w ramach programu "Społeczna odpowiedzialność nauki" - moduł: Popularyzacja nauki i promocja sportu (2024).