Development of Erosion in High-Speed Submerged Water Jets.

Abstract

High-Speed submerged water jets have two characteristic peaks with respect to the stand-off distance, in the same manner as high-speed water jets in air. In order to clarify the behavior of the impulsive pressures at these two peaks, we systematically carried out erosion tests using an aluminum-alloy specimen in a wide range of the injection pressure P1 from 10 to 70 MPa, and microscopically observed the eroded surfaces by SEM. We find that the mass loss rate Δm^^· at the 1st peak is decidedly due to the water-column impact, so that it is very sensitive to the injection pressure P1, while Δm^^· at the 2nd peak is due to the shock pressures of cavitation bubble collapse, so that it is not necessarily sensitive to P1. We also indicate that the form and the speed of erosion change markedly with the differences in the jet structure with the stand-off distance x/D.