Experimental Study of Pressure and Velocity Fluctuations Induced by Cavitation in a Small Venturi Channel

Linrong Zhang, Guangjian Zhang, Mingming Ge and Olivier Coutier-Delgosha
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Linrong Zhang: Post-Doctoral Research Center of Control Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China
Guangjian Zhang: Research Center of Fluid Machinery Engineering and Technology, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China
Mingming Ge: Kevin T. Crofton Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24060, USA
Olivier Coutier-Delgosha: CNRS, ONERA, Arts et Metiers Institute of Technology, Centrale Lille, University Lille, UMR 9014—LMFL—Laboratoire de Mécanique des Fluides de Lille—Kampé de Fériet, F-59000 Lille, France

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 24, 1-12

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to investigate experimentally the influence of the cavitation extent on the pressure and velocity fluctuations in a small convergent–divergent channel. The mean cavity length is determined from high-speed photography images. The mean pressure and the intensity of the pressure fluctuations are obtained from the transient pressure signals recorded by two pressure transducers at the inlet and outlet of the test section. The statistical turbulence quantities are derived from the instantaneous velocity fields measured by the laser-induced fluorescent particle image velocimetry (PIV-LIF) technique. The experimental results show that the decrease of the cavitation number (the increase in the extent of cavitation) leads to a rise in the turbulent fluctuations in the wake region due to the impact of vapour clouds collapsing, while the presence of a vapour phase is found to reduce the streamwise and cross-stream velocity fluctuations in the attached cavity. It might be attributed to two mechanisms: the presence of a vapour phase modifies the vortex-stretching process, and the cavitation compressibility damps out the turbulent fluctuations. Similar effects of cavitation are also observed in the pressure fluctuations.

Keywords: cavitation; venturi; cavity length; PIV (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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