Bubble number in a caviting flow

Henri Gouin (1) , Laurent Espanet (2)

1 IUSTI - Institut universitaire des systèmes thermiques industriels
2 LTHC - Laboratoire d'essais de Thermohydraulique et d'Hydromécanique analytique du Coeur et des circuits

Cavitation is a general phenomenon of the fluid flows with obstacles. It appears in the cooling conduits of the fast nuclear engines. A model of this phenomenon using the theory of Laplace and a common non-convex energy for the liquid and vapour bulks is proposed. This model makes it possible to determine a higher limit of the density of bubbles (a number of bubbles per unit of volume in the flow). The maximum intensity of cavitation is associated with the mechanical and thermal characteristics of the fluid flow.

Mots clés: Cavitation; Cavitation.; Bubble dynamics; Bubble formation; Gas/liquid flows

Domaines: Mécanique des fluides [physics.class-ph]; Dynamique des Fluides [physics.flu-dyn]

Henri Gouin, Laurent Espanet. Bubble number in a caviting flow. Comptes rendus de l’Académie des sciences. Série IIb, Mécanique, 2000, 328 (2), pp.151-157. ⟨10.1016/S1287-4620(00)00105-8⟩. ⟨hal-00308594⟩