Modeling hydrodynamic cavitation

Abstract

A simplified and unified model has been proposed to study the cavitation phenomena in hydraulic devices, with emphasis on the venturi tube and high-speed homogenizer. A turbulence model analogous to the acoustic cavitation has been developed and the dynamics of the cavities as a cluster has been considered. The prediction of the cavitation inception number has been made for various operating conditions and has been compared with the experimental observations. The effect of operating parameters, such as inlet pressure and fully recovered downstream pressure, has been studied numerically and compared with the data in the literature for the case of the venturi. The predicted cavitation intensities were compared indirectly with the experimental results. It has been found that optimum operating conditions do exist at which the observable cavitational effect is maximum. In the case of the high-speed homogenizer, the predicted effects as a function of rotational speed have been compared with the results of the aqueous KI decomposition reaction and have been found to match well. The study concludes with the recommendations and methods for possibly optimizing hydrodynamic cavitation phenomena for maximum effect.