Numerical study of unsteady cavitation on 2D NACA0015 hydrofoil using free/open source software

The free/open source software as OpenFOAM,Salome meshing and python language under Debian Linux system are evaluated to model unsteady cavitating turbulent flow around a NACA0015 hydrofoil. Based on the cavitation model proposed by Kunz and large eddy simulation(LES) method, we denote the benefits of free software and open source tools as an alternative to proprietary software of computational fluid mechanics, and provided a modified cavitation model to improve numerical accuracy.The simulation results of typical break-off cycle for cavitation shedding are compared to available experimental data, and validated using image processing to find percentage of similarities. The sheet cavity frequency of 7.752 Hz was obtained based on cavitation evolution and pressure fluctuations. The study gives relevant information for CFD software development in the future.

Analysis of ventilated cavitation around a cylinder vehicle with nature cavitation using a new simulation method

In the present paper, a new simulation method is developed for unsteady cavitating flow with air ventilation,which is very useful for alleviating the pressure oscillation in hydroturbine draft tube and reducing the drag force on an underwater vehicle. Because the fluid includes three components, i.e., the water, vapor, and air, the interactions between water–air and water–vapor are treated by applying the level set method, and the effect of surface tension is taken into account in governing equations. Further, the phase change between the water and the vapor is modeled by a homogeneous model,where the effect of air injection is considered by applying the air volume fraction in the mass transport equation. For calibration, the cavitating flows around a cylinder vehicle were simulated using the proposed method, and the numerical results were compared with the experimental data at three different ventilation conditions. The good agreement of cavitation evolutions between the simulation and the experiment indicated that the proposed method was acceptable for the simulation of ventilated cavitating flows with nature cavitation and would be usable for various engineering applications.Moreover, the vorticity analysis depicts that the vortex is closely related to cavitation evolution, and air injection much changes the vorticity production in cavitating flow. It was also revealed that vorticities only occurred in regions with high vapor/air volume fraction and the vortex stretching term created the most vorticities.

Experimental and numerical investigations into flow features in an intake duct for the waterjet propulsion under mooring conditions

The waterjet propulsion is widely applied in the marine vessels over 30 knots,and the intake duct is considered as an essential component that strongly relates to the propulsion performance.This paper sheds light on the flow features inside an intake duct under mooring conditions by using the particle image velocimetry(PIV)technique with three-dimensional(3D)numerical simulations.The hydraulic loss gradually increase as the flow-rate increases.According to analyses via the Bernoulli equation,the hydraulic loss is composed of the frictional head loss(h_(f)~V^(1.75))and the local head loss(h_(j)~V^(2.0)).A recirculation region is observed near the duct lower wall with a high-velocity flow near the upper wall,and subsequently a shear flow presents in the horizontal straight pipe with an obvious velocity gradient.Three-dimensional simulations demonstrate that the vortex pair is very strong in the recirculation region and then it gradually decreases as the fluid flows downstream.With the flow-rate increasing,the non-uniformity at the duct outlet firstly increases to a peak and then slightly decreases,while the perpendicularity at the duct outlet dramatically decreases to a minimum and then increases.This work not only reveals some physics of the waterjet propulsion under mooring conditions,but also promotes its efficient operation.