Contribution to the study of the cavitation phenomenon in hydraulic systems

Abstract

The objective of this study is to contribute to a better understanding of the cavitation phenomenon through hydraulic installations. The aim is to determine the characteristic physical and geometric parameters of cavitation. The numerical investigations are conducted through a converging-diverging nozzle of the Venturi type. We used the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) calculation code with the cavitation model. The mixture model for the two-phase flow as well as the k-? SST turbulence model were adopted. We chose several types of fluids, namely; water,gaoil, benzene, and nanofluids. The numerical simulation was conducted with fixed inlet and outlet pressures. The numerical results are compared with experimental and numerical data from the previous works. The obtained results highlight the phenomenon of cavitation, the influence of physical and geometric parameters on the formation of the vapor phase in the flow. We particularly present an original result on the influence of a nanofluid flow through a venturi, with several volume fractions, on the formation of vapor. And consequently on the phenomenon of cavitation