OATAO is an open access repository that collects the work of Toulouse researchers and makes it freely available over the web where possible.

No abstract

No abstract

Nuclei, or microbubble, populations control the inception and dynamics of cavitation. It is therefore important to quantify distributions in cavitation test facilities to rigorously model nucleation dynamics. Measurements of natural nuclei population dynamics were made in two test facilities in Australia and Japan via mechanical activation using a Cavitation Susceptibility Meter (CSM). A range of tunnel operating parameters, including pressure, velocity and dissolved oxygen (DO) content, were investigated. The DO saturation condition upstream of the test section is found to provide a threshold as to whether the population is affected by DO in the Australian test facility. Historical trends in the population are quantified, indicating that regular monitoring is required. Variation of the population around the Australian cavitation tunnel circuit was studied by varying the water sampling location. Provided the water remains undersaturated, as defined above, the natural nuclei population in the test-section can be measured by sampling from the lower-limb resorber. Comparisons are made between test facilities in Australia, Japan and other countries, as well as environmental waters, using different measurement techniques. Optical and acoustic methods show microbubbles in the size range of 10 to 100 µm typical of those used to

This study presents the results from high-spatial-resolution water-channel velocity-field measurements behind an Ahmed body with 25°rear slant angle. The Ahmed body represents a simplified generic model of a hatchback automobile that has been widely used to study near-wake flow dynamics. The results help clarify the unresolved question of whether the time-mean near-wake flow structure is topologically equivalent to a toroidal vortex or better described by a pair of horizontally aligned horseshoe vortices, with their legs pointing downstream. The velocimetry data presented allows the tracking of the vortical structures throughout the near wake through a set of orthogonal planes, as well as the measurement of their circulation. The spanwise vortices that form as the flow separates from the top and bottom rear edges are shown to tilt downstream at the sides of the body, while no evidence is found of a time-mean attached toroidal vortex, at least for the Reynolds number (based on the square root of the frontal area) of Re ffiffiffiffi ffi FA p ;30; 000 under consideration.

No abstract

Despite recent extensive research into fluid–structure interaction (FSI) of cavitating hydrofoils, there remain insufficient experimental data to explain many of the observed phenomena. The cloud cavitation behavior around a hydrofoil due to the effect of FSI is investigated, utilizing rigid and compliant three-dimensional (3D) hydrofoils held in a cantilevered configuration in a cavitation tunnel. The hydrofoils have identical undeformed geometry of tapered planform with a constant modified NACA0009 profile. The rigid model is made of stainless steel and the compliant model of a carbon and glass fiber-reinforced epoxy resin with the structural fibers aligned along the spanwise direction to avoid material bend-twist coupling. Tests were conducted at an incidence of 6 deg, a mean chord-based Reynolds number of 0.7 × 106 and cavitation number of 0.8. Force measurements were simultaneously acquired with high-speed imaging to enable correlation of forces with tip bending deformations and cavity physics. Hydrofoil compliance was seen to dampen the higher frequency force fluctuations while showing strong correlation between normal force and tip deflection. The 3D nature of the flow field was seen to cause complex cavitation behavior with two shedding modes observed on both models.

No abstract