Physical Modelling and Simulation of Leading Edge Cavitation, Application to an Industrial Inducer

Youcef Ait Bouziad (1) , Mohamed Farhat (1) , F. Guennoun (1) , Jean-Louis Kueny (1) , François Avellan (1) , Kazuyoshi Miyagawa (2)

1 EPFL - Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
2 MHI - Mitsubishi heavy industry

In the present study, two CFD methods for cavitation modeling have been investigated and compared to experimental results in the case of 3-bladed industrial inducer. The first model is an interface tracking method and the second is a VOF model. It was found that both models allow a good prediction of the cavitation inception as well as the main cavity dimensions. The threshold corresponding to the head drop is also well predicted by both models. It was also found that the cavitation induced head drop is mainly due to an increase of energy losses and a decrease of the supplied energy. Furthermore, a meridian analysis of the rothalpy evolution clearly demonstrates that the energy losses are mainly located in the channel downstream to the cavity closure. The hydrodynamic mechanism of head drop is explained through a global and local analysis of the flow field. In fact, the leading edge cavitation causes a flow blockage as well as a flow imbalance as it reaches the throat. The pressure is significantly reduced at the pressure side of the leading edge, which allows cavitation occurrence and consequently influences the energy transfer.

Domaines: Mécanique des fluides [physics.class-ph]; Mécanique des fluides [physics.class-ph]

Youcef Ait Bouziad, Mohamed Farhat, F. Guennoun, Jean-Louis Kueny, François Avellan, et al.. Physical Modelling and Simulation of Leading Edge Cavitation, Application to an Industrial Inducer. Fifth International Symposium on Cavitation (CAV2003), Nov 2003, Osaka, Japan. ⟨hal-00262236⟩