Compressible effect on the cavitating flow: A numeric study

Abstract

To understand the effect of the compressibility on the cavitating flow, a compressible, multiphase, single component Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) solver is used to study the cavitating flow on a wedge in the present work. A barotropic equation of status is used. A non-linear model for compressibility in the mixture is adopted to capture the effect of the compressibility within the complex cavitation bubbly mixtures. An unsteady cavitation phenomenon is found in the numerical simulation. The numerical results of local compressibility and Mach number in the bubbly mixture are given. The mechanism responsible for the unsteady shedding of the bubbly mixture is discussed based on the numerical results.