Numerical and Experimental Investigation of Water and Cryogenic Cavitating Flows

Abstract

The accuracy of the numerical simulation in the prediction of cavitation in cryogenic fluids is of critical importance for the efficient design and performance of turbopumps in rocket propulsion systems. One of the main challenges remains the efficiency in modeling the physics, handling the multiscale properties and developing robust numerical methodologies. Such flows involve thermodynamic phase transition and cavitation bubbles smaller than the global flow structure. Cryogenic fluids are thermo-sensible, then thermal effects and strong variations in fluid properties can alter the cavity properties. The aim of this work is to address the challenge of efficiently modeling cavitating flows when using water and cryogenic fluids. Because of the complexity of the phenomenon, we focus on improving accuracy of the numerical simulation and on proposing some approaches for a strong coupling between numerics and experiments. We first discuss how to simulate cavitation by means of a mixture model. We specifically address two challenges. The first one is associated with the prediction of thermal effect during the phase transition, requiring the solution of the energy conservation equation. The second challenge is associated to the prediction of the number of bubbles, by considering a transport equations for the bubble density. This study is applied to the numerical simulation of a cavitating flow in a Venturi configuration. We observe an improved estimation of temperature and pressure profiles by using the energy equation and the nucleation model. Secondly, we focus on bubble dynamics. Several forms of Rayleigh-Plesset (RP) equations are solved in order to estimate the temperature and pressure during the collapse of the bubble. We observe that, for high Mach number flows, RP modified with a compressible term can predict the bubble behavior more accurately than the classical form of RP. It is necessary to use a complex equation of state for non-condensable gas (van der Waals) in order to have an accurate estimation of the bubble temperature during the collapse phase. We first apply this approach to the water treatment with cavitation, by proposing a model for the estimation of radicals developed during the collapse of the bubble. Secondly, this equation is modified by adding a term of convective heat transfer at the interface between liquid and bubble and it is coupled with a bubbly flow model in order to assess the prediction of thermal effect. We perform a parametric study by considering several values and models for the convective heat transfer coefficient, hb, and we compare temperature and pressure profiles with respect to the experimental data. We observe the importance of the choice of hb for correctly predicting the temperature drop in the cavitating region and we assess the most efficient models. In addition, we perform an experimental study on nitrogen cavitating flows in order to validate numerical prediction of thermal effect, and in order to assess the fundamental characteristics of the nucleation and the transient growth process of the bubble