Compressible Two-Phase Viscous Flow Investigations of Cavitation Dynamics for the ITTC Standard Cavitator

Ville M. Viitanen*, Tuomas Sipilä, Antonio Sánchez-caja, Timo Siikonen

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

    9 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    In this paper, the ITTC Standard Cavitator is numerically investigated in a cavitation tunnel. Simulations at different cavitation numbers are compared against experiments conducted in the cavitation tunnel of SVA Potsdam. The focus is placed on the numerical prediction of sheet-cavitation dynamics and the analysis of transient phenomena. A compressible two-phase flow model is used for the flow solution, and two turbulence closures are employed: a two-equation unsteady RANS model, and a hybrid RANS/LES model. A homogeneous mixture model is used for the two phases. Detailed analysis of the cavitation shedding mechanism confirms that the dynamics of the sheet cavitation are dictated by the re-entrant jet. The break-off cycle is relatively periodic in both investigated cases with approximately constant shedding frequency. The CFD predicted sheet-cavitation shedding frequencies can be observed also in the acoustic measurements. The Strouhal numbers lie within the usual ranges reported in the literature for sheet-cavitation shedding. We furthermore demonstrate that the vortical flow structures can in certain cases develop striking cavitating toroidal vortices, as well as pressure wave fronts associated with a cavity cloud collapse event. To our knowledge, our numerical analyses are the first reported for the ITTC standard cavitator.
    Original languageEnglish
    Article number6985
    Number of pages23
    JournalApplied Sciences
    Volume10
    Issue number19
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 7 Oct 2020
    MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

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