A review of cavitation in tip-leakage flow and its control

The tip-leakage vortex(TLV)cavitation is a challenging issue for a variety of axial hydraulic turbines and pumps from both technical and scientific viewpoints.The flow characteristics of the TLV cavitation were widely studied in the past decades,but the knowledge about the tip-leakage cavitating flow is still limited.The present paper reviews the progresses in the researches of the TLV cavitation,including the numerical methods for the TLV cavitation,the flow characteristics of the TLV,the influences of the TLV cavitation on the local flow field and the control strategies of the TLV cavitation.It is indicated that the non-condensable gas may play an important role in the development of the TLV cavitation,and this fact should be considered during a careful simulation of the TLV cavitation.It is also suggested that the development of the TLV cavitation will significantly influence the distributions of the vorticity and the turbulence kinetic energy.Due to the complexity of the TLV cavitation,it is still an open question how to suppress the TLV cavitation in a simple but effective way.Finally,based on these understandings,some advanced topics for the future work are suggested to further promote the study of the TLV cavitation,for a deeper knowledge about the TLV cavitation.

Major advances in studies of the physical geography and living environment of China during the past 70 years and future prospects

The natural environment provides material essentials for human survival and development. The characteristics,processes, regional differentiation and forcing mechanisms of the elements of the natural environment(e.g. geomorphology,climate, hydrology, soil, etc.) are the main objects of research in physical geography. China has a complex natural environment and huge regional differentiation and therefore it provides outstanding reserach opportunities in physical geography. This review summarizes the most important developments and the main contributions of research in the physical geography and human living environment in China during the past 70 years. The major topics addressed are the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau and the evolution of its cryosphere, the development of fluvial systems, the acidification of the vast arid region of the Asian interior, variations in the monsoon and westerly climate systems on multiple timescales, the development of lakes and wetlands, the watershed system model, soil erosion, past human-environment interactions, biogeography, and physical geographic zonality. After briefly introducing international research developments, we review the history of research in physical geography in China, focusing on the major achievements and major academic debates, and finally we summarize the status of current research and the future prospects. We propose that in the context of the national demand for the construction of an ecological civilization, we should make full use of the research findings of physical geography, and determine the patterns and mechanisms of natural environmental processes in order to continue to promote the continued contribution of physical geography to national development strategies, and to further contribute to the theory of physical geography from a global perspective.

A new method of LES verification and validation for attached turbulent cavitating flow

The large eddy simulation(LES)is used to resolve the flow structure in the cavitating turbulent flow around the Clark-Y hydrofoil coupled with a homogeneous cavitation model.A new method is proposed in this paper to calculate the LES error of the time-averaged streamwise velocity for the LES verification and validation(V&V).From the instantaneous cavity patterns,it is demonstrated that the predicted results agree fairly well with the experimental data.With this new proposed method,the LES errors can be easily and effectively calculated with a limited mesh number,and the method might be used in the other applications of the LES V&V.Results of the LES errors obtained by the new method show that the relatively steady flow can be simulated with small errors,while the complex flow structures at the cavity shedding region might lead to an increase of errors in the LES modeling.In addition,the distributions of the resolved Reynolds stresses are used to estimate the influences of the cavitation on the turbulent fluctuations.Results indicate that the turbulent fluctuations for the cavitating flow are much larger in magnitude as compared to the cases without cavitation.

LES method of the tip clearance vortex cavitation in a propelling pump with special emphasis on the cavitation-vortex interaction

The turbulent cavitating flow around the propelling pump tip clearance is numerically simulated using the large eddy simulation(LES)method coupled with the Zwart-Gerber-Belamri(ZGB)cavitation model to investigate the cavitation-vortex interaction mechanism.The calculated cavitation structures around the blades are in a remarkable agreement with the experimental results.The distributions of the tip clearance vortex under two cavitation conditions are obtained and compared.The results show that the cavitation development enhances the vorticity generation and the flow unsteadiness around the tip clearance of a propelling pump.Vortices are basically located around the cavitation areas,particularly in the tip clearance region,during the cavitation.The relative vorticity transport equation is applied for the cavitating turbulent flows and it is further indicated that the vortex stretching term makes the main contribution in the vortex production,and the baroclinic torque and dilation terms are important source terms for the vorticity generation in the cavitating flow.In addition,the viscous diffusion term and the Coriolis force term are significant in modifying the vorticity field inside the blade tip clearance.

Large eddy simulation of tip leakage cavitating flow focusing on cavitation-vortex interaction with Cartesian cut-cell mesh method

In the present paper, flow configurations of cavitating flow around a straight NACA0009 foil with a gap between the foil tip and sidewall are investigated numerically by large eddy simulation（LES） coupled with Zwart-Gerber-Belamri（ZGB） cavitation model. A Cartesian cut-cell method is used for mesh generation, which is of good orthogonality and high quality. A good agreement is obtained between simulation and experiment. Two influencing factors on vorticity distributions, the interaction between different vortices and the occurrence of cavitation, are discussed in detail based on the numerical results. A series of ？-shaped loops are observed during the development of the induced vortex, which is a result of the instability of vortex pair. This finding may provide a new viewpoint to control the evolution of tip-leakage vortex（TLV） cavitation. Moreover, it is found that the dilatation term plays a much more important role in the evolution of TLV cavitation compared with that in sheet cavitation.

LES investigation of cavitating flows around a sphere with special emphasis on the cavitation–vortex interactions

Large eddy simulation(LES)was coupled with a homogeneous cavitation model to study turbulent cavitating flows around a sphere.The simulations are in good agreement with available experimental data and the simulated accuracy has been evaluated using the LES verification and validation method.Various cavitation numbers are simulated to study important flow characteristics in the sphere wake,e.g.periodic cavity growth/contraction,interactions between the cloud and sheet cavitations and the vortex structure evolution.The spectral characteristics of the wake for typical cloud cavitation conditions were classified as the periodic cavitation mode,high Strouhal number mode and low Strouhal number mode.Main frequency distributions in the wake were analyzed and different dominant flow structures were identified for each of the three modes.Further,the cavitation and vortex relationship was also studied,which is an important issue associated with complex cavitating sphere wakes.Three types of cavitating vortex structures alternate,which indicates that three different cavity shedding regimes may exist in the wake.Analysis of vorticity transport equation shows a significant vorticity increase at the cavitation closure region and in the vortex cavitation region.This study provides a physical perspective to further understand the flow mechanisms in cavitating sphere wakes.