Improvement of cavitation mass transfer modeling by including Rayleigh–Plesset equation second order term

Abstract

The current study evaluates the effect of taking into account the second order term of the Rayleigh– Plesset equation for the numerical simulation of cavitation with homogeneous mixture models. For that, the corrected expression for the condensation mass transfer rate has been mathematically derived and implemented in the original Zwart and Singhal cavitation models. Two tests cases of steady sheet cavitation around a NACA 0009 hydrofoil and a hemi-spherical body at different cavitation coefficients have been simulated with both the original and the corrected models. The results demonstrate that the pressure distribution at the closure region of the attached cavity is better predicted and a stronger pressure gradient is obtained. Consequently, the cavity length is slightly shortened and it gets closer to the experimental observations. Another test case of cloud cavitation around a NACA 0009 hydrofoil has confirmed that the prediction of the shedding frequency is also improved with the corrected Zwart model because the maximum cavity length is significantly reduced. In conclusion, the proposed modification of the Zwart and Singhal cavitation models helps to ameliorate the numerical simulation of both steady and unsteady cavitation flows.