Журнал прикладного машиностроения

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Assessment of the Homogeneous Approach to Predict Unsteady Flow Characteristics of Sheet and Cloud Cavitation

Cote P and Dumas G*

In this work, the homogeneous approach, frequently used to simulate cavitation in hydraulic machinery, is used to compute unsteady cavitating flows for two simplified geometries. After a quick review of the literature and a rigorous presentation of the proposed methodology, the detailed computed physics of sheet and cloud cavitation are compared with experimental observations and with theory. Results suggest that the assumption of a homogeneous medium is not suitable to predict the fine physics of attached cavitation and thus to predict its precise unsteady characteristics. However, the in homogeneous approach, in which a momentum equation is solved for both phases under a volume of fluid (VOF) approach, is shown to be more promising. Although it is numerically less stable, such an approach allows the effective body to be modified by the presence of vapor in contrast with the homogeneous approach. The resulting flow topology around the vapor cavity is found to better agree with the experimental observations, and thus the inhomogeneous approach offers the potential to better predict the unsteady characteristics of attached cavitation.