Numerical simulation of the propagation of pressure waves in water during the collapse of a spherical air cavity

Abstract

Numerical simulation of the collapse of a spherical gas cavity in a liquid under the influence of a pressure drop is performed. The unsteady motion of a viscous compressible fluid is described by the equations of continuity, momentum, and energy, supplemented by Menter’s SST model. The VoF approach was used to track the interface of the gas–liquid multiphase flow. The problem was solved using OpenFOAM software. Comparison of the obtained results with the known data of other authors was carried out. In experiments, the initial radius of the spherical cavity varied from 0.01 to 0.09 m, and the gas pressure varied from 0.05 to 0.5 MPa at a constant liquid pressure of 7 MPa. The dependences of the radius of the gas cavity, the velocity of the interface, and turbulent kinetic energy on time were obtained, and the shape of the cavity during the implosion process was calculated. The influence of the gas pressure and the radius of the spherical cavity at the initial time on the maximum pressure at the control point was analyzed.