The inception cavitating flows around a blunt body are studied based on flow visualizations and velocity field measureme- nts. The main purpose of the present work is to study the incipient cavity evolution and the interplay between the inception cavitation and the local turbulent flows. A high-speed video camera is used to visualize the cavitating flow structures, and the particle image velocimetry （PIV） technique is used to measure the velocity field, the vorticity, and the Reynolds stresses under non-cavitating and inception cavitating flow conditions. It is found that the appearance of visible cavities is preceded by the formation of a cluster of micro-bubbles not attached to the body surface and in a hairpin-shaped vortex structure. During its evolution, the cavity moves downstream with a lower speed. The effect of the incipient cavity is significant on the local vortical structures but slight on the time- averaged velocity distribution. The mean Reynolds stress distributions in the turbulent shear flow can be substantially altered by the incipient cavities. The presence of the incipient cavities can lead to the production of turbulent fluctuations.
A modification to the PANS(partially averaged Navier-Stokes) model is proposed to simulate unsteady cavitating flows. In the model, the parameter fk is modified to vary as a function of the ratios between the water density and the mixture density in the local flows. The objective of this study is to validate the modified model and further understand the interaction between turbulence and cavitation around a Clark-Y hydrofoil. The comparisons between the numerical and experiment results show that the modified model can be improved to predict the cavity evolution, vortex shedding frequency and the lift force fluctuating in time fairly well, as it can effectively modulate the eddy viscosity in the cavitating region and various levels of physical turbulent fluctuations are resolved. In addition, from the computational results, it is proved that cavitation phenomenon physically influences the turbulent level, especially by the vortex shedding behaviors. Also, the mean u-velocity profiles demonstrate that the attached cavity thickness can alter the local turbulent shear layer.
The objective of this paper is to investigate transient cavitating flows around a hydrofoil via combined physical and numerical studies. The aims are to 1) investigate the periodic formation, breakup, shedding, and collapse of the sheet/cloud cavities, 2) provide a better insight in the physical mechanism that governs the dynamics and structures of the sheet/cloud cavitation, 3) quantify the influence of cavitation on the surrounding flow structures. Results are presented for a Clark-Y hydrofoil fixed at an angle of attack of a=8° at a moderate Reynolds number, Re=7×105 , for sheet/cloud cavitating conditions. The experimental studies were conducted in a cavitation tunnel at Beijing Institute of Technology, China. The numerical simulations are performed by solving the incompressible, multiphase unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) equations via the commercial code CFX using a transport equation-based cavitation model; a filter-based density corrected model (FBDCM) is used to regulate the turbulent eddy viscosity in both the cavitation regions near the foil and in the wake. The results show that numerical predictions are capable of capturing the initiation of the cavity, growth toward the trailing edge, and subsequent shedding in accordance with the quantitative features observed in the experiment. Regarding vapor shedding in the cavitating flow around the three-dimensional foil, it is primarily attributed to the effect of the re-entrant flow, which is formed due to the strong adverse pressure gradient. The results show strong correlation between the cavity and vorticity structures, demonstrating that the inception, growth, shedding, and collapse of sheet/cloud cavities are important mechanisms for vorticity production and modification.
The objective of this paper is to improve the understanding of the influence of multiphase flow on the turbulent closure model, the interplay between vorticity fields and cavity dynamics around a pitching hydrofoil. The effects of pitching rate on the sub- cavitating and cavitating response of the pitching hydrofoil are also investigated. In particular, we focus on the interactions between cavity inception, growth, and shedding and the vortex flow structures, and their impacts on the hydrofoil performance. The calculations are 2-D and performed by solving the incompressible, multiphase Unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes （URANS） equations via the commercial CFD code CFX. The k-co SST （Shear Stress Transport） turbulence model is used along with the transport equation-based cavitation models. The density correction function is considered to reduce the eddy viscosity according to the computed local fluid mixture density. The calculation results are validated with experiments conducted by Ducoin et al. （see Computational and experimental investigation of flow over a transient pitching hydrofoil, Eur J Mech/B Fluids, 2009, 28：728-743 and An experimental analysis of fluid structure interaction of a flexible hydrofoil in vari- ous flow regimes including cavitating flow, Eur J Mech B/fluids, 2012, 36： 63-74）. Results are shown for a NACA66 hydro- foil subject to slow （quasi static, t2=6~/s, ＆＊ =0.18） and fast （dynamic, ＆=63~/s, dr＂ =1.89） pitching motions from a =0~ to a =15~. Both subcavitaing （or =8.0） and cavitating （cr=3.0） flows are considered. For subcavitating flow （or=8.0）, low frequency fluctuations have been observed when the leading edge vortex shedding occurs during stall, and delay of stall is ob- served with increasing pitching velocity. For cavitating flow （tr=3.0）, small leading edge cavities are observed with the slow pitching case, which significantly modified the vortex dynamics at high angles of attack, leading to high frequency fluctuations of the
A local vortical cavitation（LVC） model for the computation of unsteady cavitation is proposed.The model is derived from the Rayleigh–Plesset equations,and takes into account the relations between the cavitation bubble radius and local vortical effects.Calculations of unsteady cloud cavitating fows around a Clark-Y hydrofoil are performed to assess the predictive capability of the LVC model using well-documented experimental data.Compared with the conventional Zwart＇s model,better agreement is observed between the predictions of the LVC model and experimental data,including measurements of time-averaged fl w structures,instantaneous cavity shapes and the frequency of the cloud cavity shedding process.Based on the predictions of the LVC model,it is demonstrated that the evaporation process largely concentrates in the core region of the leading edge vorticity in accordance with the growth in the attached cavity,and the condensation process concentrates in the core region of the trailing edge vorticity,which corresponds to the spread of the rear component of the attached cavity.When the attached cavity breaks up and moves downstream,the condensation area fully transports to the wake region,which is in accordance with the dissipation of the detached cavity.Furthermore,using vorticity transport equations,we also fin that the periodic formation,breakup,and shedding of the sheet/cloud cavities,along with the associated baroclinic torque,are important mechanisms for vorticity production and modification When the attached cavity grows,the liquid–vapour interface that moves towards the trailing edge enhances the vorticity in the attached cav-ity closure region.As the re-entrant jet moves upstream,the wavy/bubbly cavity interface enhances the vorticity near the trailing edge.At the end of the cycle,the break-up of the stable attached cavity is the main reason for the vorticity enhancement near the suction surface.
In this paper, various turbulence closure models for unsteady cavitating flows are investigated. The filter-based model （FBM） and the density correction model （DCM） were proposed to reduce the turbulent eddy viscosities in a turbulent cavitating flow based on the local meshing resolution and the local fluid density, respectively. The effects of the resolution control parameters in the FBM and DCM models are discussed. It is shown that the eddy viscosity near the cavity closure region can significantly influence the cavity shapes and the unsteady shedding pattern of the cavitating flows. To improve the predictions, a Filter-Based Density Cor-rection model （FBDCM） is proposed, which blends the FBM and DCM models according to the local fluid density. The new FBDCM model can effectively represent the eddy viscosity, according to the multi-phase characteristics of the unsteady cavitating flows. The experimental validations regarding the force analysis and the unsteady cavity visualization show that good agreements with experimental visualizations and measurements are obtained by the FBDCM model. For the FBDCM model, the attached cavity length and the resulting hydrodynamic characteristics are subsequently affected by the detail turbulence modeling parameters, and the model is shown to be effective in improving the overall predictive capability.
