Numerical and experimental investigation on the cavitating flow in a cascade of hydrofoils

R. Lohrberg (1) , Darmstadt Stoffel (1) , Regiane . Fortes Patella (2) , Olivier Coutier-Delghosa (2) , Jean-Luc Reboud (3)

1 TU Darmstadt - Technische Universität Darmstadt - Technical University of Darmstadt
2 LEGI - Laboratoire des Écoulements Géophysiques et Industriels [Grenoble]
3 LTDS - Laboratoire de Tribologie et Dynamique des Systèmes

The cavitating flow in a cascade of three hydrofoils was investigated by experimental means and numerical simulation. Experiments on the 2D-hydrofoils cascade were carried out at Darmstadt University of Technology in a rectangular test section of a cavitation tunnel. A numerical model developed at LEGI (Grenoble) to describe the unsteady behaviour of cavitation, including the shedding of vapour structures, was applied to the hydrofoils cascade geometry. Results of both experimental and numerical studies show a strong interaction between the cavities of each flow channel besides the typical self-oscillation of cloud cavitation. A detailed comparison of the results allows an interpretation of the interaction mechanisms to be proposed.

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

R. Lohrberg, Darmstadt Stoffel, Regiane . Fortes Patella, Olivier Coutier-Delghosa, Jean-Luc Reboud. Numerical and experimental investigation on the cavitating flow in a cascade of hydrofoils. Experiments in Fluids, 2002, 33, pp.578-586. ⟨10.1007/s00348-002-0508-6⟩. ⟨hal-00211188⟩