This paper mainly summarizes the recent progresses for the cavitation study in the hydraulic machinery including turbo-pumps, hydro turbines, etc.. Especially, the newly developed numerical methods for simulating cavitating turbulent flows and the achievements with regard to the complicated flow features revealed by using advanced optical techniques as well as cavitation simulation are introduced so as to make a better understanding of the cavitating flow mechanism for hydraulic machinery. Since cavitation instabilities are also vital issue and rather harmful for the operation safety of hydro machines, we present the 1-D analysis method, which is identified to be very useful for engineering applications regarding the cavitating flows in inducers, turbine draft tubes, etc. Though both cavitation and hydraulic machinery are extensively discussed in literatures, one should be aware that a few problems still remains and are open for solution, such as the comprehensive understanding of cavitating turbulent flows especially inside hydro turbines, the unneglectable discrepancies between the numerical and experimental data, etc.. To further promote the study of cavitation in hydraulic machinery, some advanced topics such as a Density-Based solver suitable for highly compressible cavitating turbulent flows, a virtual cavitation tunnel, etc. are addressed for the future works.

A review of cavitation in hydraulic machinery

The cavitating flow around the asymmetric leading edge (ALE) 15 hydrofoil is investigated through large eddy simulation with the modified Schnerr–Sauer cavitation model, which considers the effect of noncondensable gas. The statistical average velocity profiles obtained by simulation and experimentation show good agreement. The time evolution of cavity shape shows that cavity growth and separation start from the short side and spread toward the long side due to a side-entrant jet. The variation frequency of the cavity length of ALE15 hydrofoil at the long side is 163.93 Hz, and the cavitation shedding frequency at the short side is 306.67 Hz, which is about twice the value of the former. The filtered vorticity transport equation is employed to investigate the cavitation–vortex–turbulence interaction. Results indicate that vortex stretching is the major promoter of cavitation development, and vortex dilatation links vapor cavity and vortices. Baroclinic torque is noticeable at the liquid–vapor interface, and turbulent stress is related to cavitation inception. Moreover, a one-dimensional model for predicting pressure fluctuation is proposed, and results show that the model can effectively predict cavitation-induced pressure fluctuation on a hydrofoil, even on a three-dimensional ALE15 hydrofoil.

Cavitation–Vortex–Turbulence Interaction and One-Dimensional Model Prediction of Pressure for Hydrofoil ALE15 by Large Eddy Simulation

Experimental and numerical investigation of ventilated cavitating flow with special emphasis on gas leakage behavior and re-entrant jet dynamics

Numerical investigation of attached cavitation shedding dynamics around the Clark-Y hydrofoil with the FBDCM and an integral method

The physical mechanism of flow unsteadiness is one of the key problems in cavitating flow. Significant efforts have been exerted to explain the cavitation-vortex interaction mechanism. As well, the process of kinetic energy transport during the evolution of unsteady cavitating flow must be elucidated. In this work, 2D calculations of cavitating flow around a NACA66 hydrofoil were performed based on the open source software OpenFOAM. The modified shear stress transport k-ω turbulence model, which considers curvature and turbulent eddy viscosity corrections, was employed to close the governing equations. The Schnerr-Sauer cavitation model was adopted to capture the cavitation phase change process. Numerical results showed reasonable consistency with the results of the experiments conducted by Leroux et al. (2004). The results showed that cavitation promotes turbulence intensity and flow unsteadiness around the hydrofoil. During the attached sheet cavity growth stage, high-value regions of turbulent kinetic energy are located substantially at the interface of the cavity, particularly at the rear portion of the cavity region. During the cloud cavity shed-off stage, the cavity begins to break off and the maximum value of turbulent kinetic energy is observed inside the shed cavity. Finally, the influence of cavitation on the turbulence intensity is illustrated using the turbulent kinetic energy transport equation, which shows that the pressure diffusion and turbulent transport terms dominate as cavitation occurs. In addition, cavitation promotes turbulence production and increases dissipation with fluid viscosity and flow unsteadiness. The viscous transport term only acts in the cavitation shedding stage under large-scale vortex shedding. Overall, these findings are of considerable interest in engineering applications.

Calculation of cavitation evolution and associated turbulent kinetic energy transport around a NACA66 hydrofoil

The unsteady turbulent cloud cavitation around a NACA66 hydrofoil was simulated using the filter-based density corrected model (FBDCM). The cloud cavitation was treated as a homogeneous liquid-vapor mixture and the effects of turbulent eddy viscosity were reduced in cavitation regions near the hydrofoil and in the wake. The numerical results (in terms of the vapor shedding structure and transient pressure pulsation due to cavitation evolution) agree well with the available experimental data, showing the validity of the FBDCM method. Furthermore, the interaction of vortex and cavitation was analyzed based on the vorticity transport equation, revealing that the cavitation evolution has a strong connection with vortex dynamics. A detailed analysis shows that the cavitation could promote the vortex production and flow unsteadiness by the dilatation and baroclinic torque terms in the vorticity transport equation.

Cavitation shedding dynamics around a hydrofoil simulated using a filter-based density corrected model

A three-component model based on mass transfer equation is proposed to simulate both the natural and ventilated cavitations. In the present cavitation model, the content of nuclei in the local flow field is updated synchronously, and is coupled with the Rayleigh–Plesset equation so as to capture the cavity development. The proposed model is applied for simulating the cavitating flow around a super-cavitating vehicle in different cavitation conditions. In the case of the natural cavitation simulation, the predicted cavitation characteristics including the cavity length and cavity diameter agrees fairly well with the analytical results. In the case of the mixed cavitation simulation, the gas ventilation obviously influences the development of cavity. With the increase of the gas ventilated rate, the natural cavitation is suppressed remarkably, and a super cavitation is formed even at a relatively larger natural cavitation number.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0256-307X/27/9/096401/pdf

A Three-Component Model Suitable for Natural and Ventilated Cavitation

Cavitation is an important kind of complex multiphase flow with strong three-dimensional characteristic and high unsteadiness, which frequently occurred in a wide range of fluid machinery, marine propulsor, and hydraulic engineering and can generate the destructive behavior. Cavitation has been one of the most difficult and key problems in the area of hydrodynamics for quite a long time. In this paper, the research progress of unsteady hydrodynamics characteristics for cavitation is reviewed from the viewpoints of experimental and numerical investigations, respectively. And the existing problems in the cavitation research are also discussed. For the experimental study, the progress of the cavitation mechanism tunnel, measurement technology for cavitating flow and simultaneous sampling technique are introduced. For the numerical investigations, some of the most popular cavitation models and turbulence models are introduced by categorization, and the applications of large eddy simulation (LES) approach and validation & verification in cavitation simulations are discussed in detail. Then, mainly based on attached cavity but also other kinds of cavitation, such as cavitation cloud, cavitation erosion, and vortex cavitation, several basic but important problems are discussed. Problems discussed herein includes the evolution of attached cavity, the three dimensional structures of cavitation, the shedding mechanism of attached cavity, the unsteadiness mechanism of cavitation and its connection with the pressure fluctuations, the interaction between cavitation and vortex, the fluid-structure interaction in the cavitating flow around a flexible hydrofoil, influence of cavitation on the wake flow, and so on. Finally, prospects of the direction and trends of cavitation hydrodynamics research are discussed.

Ji Bin

Papers

Cavitation shedding dynamics around a hydrofoil simulated using a filter-based density corrected model

A Three-Component Model Suitable for Natural and Ventilated Cavitation

Research progresses and prospects of unsteady hydrodynamics characteristics for cavitation