Prediction of Cavitation Inception Within Regions of Flow Separation

Abstract

Cavitation within regions of flow separation appears in drifting vortices. A two-part computational method is employed for prediction of cavitation inception number there. The first part is an analysis of the average flow in separation regions without consideration of an impact of vortices. The second part is an analysis of equilibrium of the bubble within the core of a vortex located in the turbulent flow of known average characteristics. Computed cavitation inception numbers for axisymmetric flows are in the good agreement with the known experimental data.