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Numerical simulation of multi-scale cavitating flow with special emphasis on the influence of vortex on micro-bubbles

  • Special Column on the 33Rd NCHD-First Rart (Guest Editor Zheng Ma)
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Abstract

A multi-scale Euler-Lagrange method is applied in the current paper to investigate the characteristics of turbulent cloud cavitating flow around a Clark-Y hydrofoil, in which macroscopic cavitating structures are simulated by volume of fluid (VOF) approach, while micro-scale bubbles are modelled based on Rayleigh-Plesset equation and bubble motion equation. The numerical results are in reasonable agreement with the available experiments, and the transition between multi-scale structures is captured clearly. The evolution of microscopic bubble behaviors is statistically investigated. During one typical cycle, numbers and Sauter mean radius of the bubbles show a similar variation tendency which both sharply spike to their maxima after the breakup of the sheet cavity, and then decrease continuously to their minima before the next breakup. Discrete bubbles are mainly concentrated at the tail of the attached cavity, in front of the cloud cavity and in the region quite close to the hydrofoil suction side. Furthermore, vortices are extracted to account for the micro-scale hydrodynamics. It is found that intense vortices aggravate turbulence fluctuation, thus spalling cavity to generate massive micro bubbles. Meanwhile, the vortices provide microscopic bubbles low pressure and detain them so that numerous bubbles are able to grow. These effects are remarkable after the breakup of attached sheet cavity, owing to the violent vortices generated. On the contrary, when sheet cavity develops, the flow field becomes comparatively stable since the strong vortices travel downstream. Few micro-scale bubbles are produced, and their volume is generally small.

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Acknowledgements

The numerical calculations in the current paper were done on the supercomputing system in the Supercomputing Center of Wuhan University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering Science, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China

    Ming-zhe Zhou, Zi-yang Wang, Xiao-rui Bai, Huai-yu Cheng & Bin Ji

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  1. Ming-zhe Zhou
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  2. Zi-yang Wang
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  3. Xiao-rui Bai
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  4. Huai-yu Cheng
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  5. Bin Ji
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Correspondence to Bin Ji.

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Ethical approval: This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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Conflict of Interest: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 52176041, 12102308), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2022T150490).

Biography: Ming-zhe Zhou (2000-), Male, Master Candidate

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Zhou, Mz., Wang, Zy., Bai, Xr. et al. Numerical simulation of multi-scale cavitating flow with special emphasis on the influence of vortex on micro-bubbles. J Hydrodyn 34, 1032–1043 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42241-023-0086-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42241-023-0086-z

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