Evaluation of mass transport cavitation models for unsteady cavitating flows

Abstract

Modeling of unsteady cavitating flow is a critical issue in a lot of practical cases. The objective of this paper is to assess the practical applicability of three widely used mass transport cavitation models under RANS framework, including the Kubota model, Kunz model, and Singhal model, for predicting partial sheet cavitating flow around an axisymmetric body with hemispherical head and unsteady cloud cavitating flow around a Clark-Y hydrofoil. The results show that for the axisymmetric cylindrical body, all three cavitation models could generally predict the pressure distributions. The significant differences are found around the closure region of the attached cavity due to the magnitude and distribution of mass transfer rate. For the unsteady cavitating flow along the hydrofoil, the significant differences with different cavitation model are observed in time-averaged and time-dependent concerning the cavity shapes, multiphase structures and the cloud shedding dynamics. The Singhal model coupling the effect between the vorticity distribution and the cavity dynamics agrees best with the experimental measurements.