CAVITATION CONTROL BY AERATION AND ITS COMPRESSIBLE CHARACTERISTICS

This paper presents an experimental investigation and a theoretical analysis of cavitation control by aeration and its compressible characteristics at the flow velocity V=20m/s-50m/s. Pressure waveforms with and without aeration in cavitation region were measured. The variation of compression ratio with air concentration was described, and the relation between the least air concentration to prevent cavitation erosion and flow velocity proposed based on our experimental study. The experimental results show that aeration remarkably increases the pressure in cavitation region, and the corresponding pressure wave exhibits a compression wave/shock wave. The pressure increase in cavitation region of high-velocity flow with aeration is due to the fact that the compression waves/shock wave after the flow is aerated. The compression ratio increases with air concentration rising. The relation between flow velocity and least air concentration to prevent cavitation erosion follows a semi-cubical parabola. Also, the speed of sound and Mach number of high-velocity aerated flow were analyzed.

PRESSURE CHARACTERISTICS OF CAVITATION CONTROL BY AERATION

This experimental investigation was systernatically conducted with the aid of a non-circulating water tunnel in the Hydraulics Laboratory at Zhejiang University of Tech nology in China, The test velocity is between 20m/s and 40m/ s. The least air concentration to prevent cavitation erosion lies between 1. 7% and 4. 5%. Pressure waveforms with and without aeration in cavitation and cavitation erosion regions were measured. Time-averaged pressure profiles with and without aeration were compared. Pressure characteristics cotresponding to least air concentration to prevent cavitation erosion in cavitation and cavitation erosion regions were analyzed.

Experimental and CFD investigations of choked cavitation characteristics of the gap flow in the valve lintel of navigation locks

The cavitation is ubiquitous in the water delivery system of high hydraulic head navigation locks.This paper studies the choked cavitation characteristics of the gap flows in the valve lintel of the navigation locks and analyzes the critical self-aeration conditions.The cavitation gap flow in the valve lintel is experimentally and numerically investigated.A visualized 1:1 full-scale slicing model is designed,with a high-speed camera,the details of the cavitation flow is captured without the reduced scale effect.Moreover,the numerical simulations are conducted to reveal the flow structures in the gap.The experimental results show that the flow pattern of the gap flow in the valve lintel could be separated into four models,namely,the incipient(1)the developing,(2),the intensive,(3),and the choked(4)cavitation models.The numerical simulation results are consistent with the experimental data.The choked cavitation conditions are crucial to the gap flow in the valve lintel.When the choked cavitation occurs,the gap is entirely occupied by two cavitation cloud sheets.The gap pressure then decreases sharply to the saturated water vapor pressure at the operating temperature.This water vapor pressure is the ultimate negative pressure in the gap that remains unchanged with the continuous decrease of the downstream pressure.The volumetric flow rate reaches a peak,then remains constant,with the further decrease of the pressure ratio or the cavitation number.At the choking point,the volumetric flow rate is proportional to the root mean square of the difference between the upstream pressure(absolute pressure)and the saturated pressure of the water.Moreover,the pressure ratio is linearly correlated with the downstream cavitation number with a slope of(1+ζc).