Simulating Cloud Cavitation Using Detached Eddy Simulation And Other Hybrid Turbulence Models

Abstract

Cavitation is defined as the formation of bubbles resulting from a sharp drop in vapor pressure at a near constant liquid temperature. Both numerical and experimental methods are needed to study this phenomenon in detail. On the numerical side, the cavitation-turbulence coupling in the process makes cavitating flows difficult to model. One particular approach, using a homogeneous Transport-Equation Model (TEM) coupled with a turbulence model has been utilized in this study where the influence of a hybrid RANS-LES turbulence model on the turbulence properties and its ability to behave as an LES model properly is investigated. The Detached Eddy Simulation (DES), Delayed DES (DDES) and Improved DDES (IDDES) are coupled with the Merkle cavitation model to simulate cloud cavitating flow inside a venturi using interPhaseChangeFoam, a multiphase flow solver in OpenFOAM. Comparisons are made for void fraction and turbulence properties on the global and local scale by comparing them with high-fidelity data obtained from X-ray Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) experiments.