We present a new method of extracting information on average vapor distribution in a cavitating flow based on statistical processing of PIV data for a liquid phase. For this, vectors on instantaneous ...velocity fields are analyzed over the entire statistical ensemble of instantaneous realizations considering their status: valid—vectors that passed validation procedures, outliers—the ones with incorrect values, out-of-flow—those calculated on insufficient number of seeding particles (tracers), masked—they correspond to unilluminated flow regions. The suggested approach is based on the two basic principles: absence of the tracers in the vapor phase and statistical independence of the successive measurements. The case study is performed for a cavitating 2D symmetric hydrofoil under unsteady cloud cavitation conditions with regular shedding of large-scale cloud cavities. Comparing statistical distribution laws in different flow regions makes it possible to recognize the stable sheet cavity and its pulsating part and determine the location of cloud cavity detachments. This approach for PIV data analysis is shown to be an effective tool to characterize time-averaged distribution of the dispersed phase in cavitating flow based merely on velocity measurements for the liquid phase. Using it allows one to substantially reduce consumption of computational resources and save time when investigating the structure of cavitating flows, limiting to standard PIV measurements in liquid. This method can be also applied to analyze the structure of other types of dispersed two-phase flows.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
In this paper, we performed the numerical and experimental study of unsteady cavitation surge around a semi-circular leading-edge flat plate using a passive flow control method. We mounted a ...miniature spanwise wedge-type vortex generator on the suction side of the model close to its leading edge. To mitigate the destructive impact of this type of cavitation on the hydrofoil performance, we analyzed the effects of the passive control on the dynamics of cavitation surge. First, we investigated experimentally the unsteady cavitating flow around the semi-circular leading-edge flat plate without passive control using high-speed visualization, acoustic measurements and particle image velocimetry method. Next, we simulated numerically the dynamics of unsteady flow under the cavitation surge conditions with an open source code and validated the numerical results using the experimental data. We used a proper interaction between turbulence and cavitation model to capture a highly unsteady behavior of cavitation surge. Finally, we considered the effects of the passive control device on the mechanism of the cavitation surge instability. Our results revealed that using the passive control method, it is possible to stabilize the attached cavity on the suction side of the flat plate, to hinder the development of the spanwise instability of the attached cavity and to mitigate large-scale cavity structures. Furthermore, high-pressure pulsations in the wake region induced by unsteady cavitation surge were considerably reduced.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OBVAL, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
•We studied a passive control method to stabilize the cloud cavitation instabilities using Cylindrical Cavitating-bubble Generators (CCGs).•Experimental investigations of cavitation inception, sheet ...cavitation and cloud cavitations for the hydrofoil without and with CCGs were performed.•Implemented passive cavitation control technique appeared to be quite effective method to suppress the cavitation in different cavitating flow regimes.•Using our passive control method a notable reduction in the amplitude of pressure pulsations was observed.
Cavitation often causes a destructive impact on the performance of hydraulic machinery, such as erosive wear, noise and vibrations of the framework and moving parts of marine propellers, pumps, hydraulic turbines and other equipments, which eventually leads to a degradation of overall system effectiveness. The paper reports on an experimental investigation of a passive method of flow control for different cavitation conditions: starting from the cavitation inception, including quasi-steady partial cavitation with shedding of small-scale vortical structures and finishing by unsteady cloud cavitation. The passive flow control was implemented using miniature vortex generators of a cylindrical type referred to as Cylindrical Cavitating-bubble Generators (CCGs) that were placed on the surface of a benchmark CAV2003 hydrofoil. First, we performed high-speed visualization of cavitation on the suction side of the original hydrofoil (without the control element) to find the cavitation inception point near the leading edge and to analyze the spatial structure and time evolution of partial cavities. In order to improve our understanding of the mechanism of cavitating flow unsteadiness and the effect of CCGs on the cavitation dynamics, we also applied a PIV technique to measure the mean flow velocity profiles and a hydroacoustic pressure transducer to record local pressure pulsations in the hydrofoil wake. As a result, this allowed us to determine the influence of CCGs on turbulent structure of the flow at different cavitation regimes and amplitude-frequency spectra of the pressure pulsations associated with attached cavity length oscillations for unsteady flow conditions. It was revealed that, in the case of unsteady cloud cavitation, CCGs were capable to mitigate large-scale cloud cavities. In addition, a substantial decrease in the amplitude of pressure pulsations was registered for the modified hydrofoil (with the control element). In general, CCGs appeared to be quite effective to hinder the cavitation development and to reduce the strength of side- and middle-entrant jets as the primary mechanisms of unsteady cloud cavitation.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
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•Time-averaged vapor fields and bimodal distributions of fluctuating velocity obtained.•Fields of higher-order statistical moments reflect global development of cavitation.•Abnormal ...distributions of asymmetry and excess coefficients in unsteady flow regime.•Unsteady cloud cavitation analyzed through quasi-phase-averaging of original PIV data.•Bimodal shape of histograms attributed to development of cloud cavitation instability.
The article presents results of a statistical analysis of the original PIV data for the cavitating flow around the 2D symmetric hydrofoil mimicking a guide vane of a Francis turbine which were previously reported in Timoshevskiy et al. (2020). We employ the procedure of statistical vector filtration (Heinz et al., 2004) to eliminate vector outliers from the measured velocity fields, which allows us to retrieve genuine spatial distributions of higher-order statistical moments of velocity fluctuations, and the method of vapor phase detection (Pervunin et al., 2021) to extract time-averaged fields of vapor in the cavitating flow. The spatial distributions of the probability of vapor phase occurrence allowed us to unambiguously distinguish the extension of the flow area occupied by the dispersed phase (cavitation) together with the time-averaged concentration of the vapor phase in the three characteristic regimes of the cavitating flow as well as different features of cavitation evolution, including the location and length of an attached cavity and the place of detachments of cloud cavities in the case of unsteady cloud cavitation. The development of cavitation is also reflected in the fields of higher-order statistical moments of turbulent fluctuations by the example of coefficients of asymmetry and excess. With a transition to unsteady cloud cavitation, the distribution of velocity fluctuations transforms, taking a nonequilibrium shape, with an increase in magnitudes of the asymmetry and excess coefficients over a significant flow area. In a region of the attached cavity, around the place of formation of vapor clouds and downstream, where the cloud cavities are carried away by the flow, the distribution of velocity fluctuations becomes bimodal. Through visual inspection of the raw PIV images, realizations related to two characteristic phases of the cavity oscillation cycle were extracted, providing quasi-phase-averaged data. As a result, the bimodal shape of the distributions in certain areas of the unsteady cavitating flow was demonstrated to be most probably linked with periodic detachments and downstream advection of the vapor clouds as the predominant fundamental process determining the flow structure and dynamics.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
In the paper, the possibility of active manipulation of unsteady cavitating flow over a 2D hydrofoil, a scaled-down model of Francis turbine guide vane (GV), was tested. The flow manipulation was ...implemented by generating of a wall jet at various flow rates through a spanwise slot nozzle in the foil surface. The experiments were carried out at two attack angles of 3° and 9°. Different cavitation conditions were reached by varying the cavitation number and injection velocity. Temporal and spatial cavity characteristics were studied by means of a high speed visualization. Hydroacoustic measurements were performed in order to investigate pressure pulsations spectral characteristics. It was found that the wall jet generation technique appears to be effective in suppressing cavity unsteady behavior or at least to reduce the corresponding pressure pulsations at low inclination angle and less efficient at high angles of attack, allowing only minor decrease of pressure pulsations.
•Analysis of basic statistical information on velocity fields in cavitating flow.•Modification of flow statistical structure in case of unsteady cloud cavitation.•Two-mode distribution of PDF of ...velocity fluctuations for unsteady cloud cavitation.•Different behaviors of the mean and most probable velocities with flow speed-up.
Transformation of flow turbulence structure with cavitation occurrence, determination of the flow conditions favorable for nucleation of cavitation bubbles, influence of the statistical structure of turbulence on this process and the inverse effect of cavitation on the flow dynamics are challenging problems in modern fluid mechanics. The paper reports on the results of statistical processing of the velocity fields measured by a PIV technique in cavitating flow over a 2D symmetric hydrofoil for four flow conditions, starting from a cavitation-free regime and finishing by unsteady cloud cavitation. We analyze basic information on the statistical structure of velocity fluctuations in the form of histograms and Q-Q diagrams along with profiles of the mean velocity and turbulent kinetic energy. The research reveals that the flow turbulence pattern and distributions of turbulent fluctuations change significantly with the cavitation development. Under unsteady cloud cavitation conditions, the probability density function of the fluctuating velocity has a two-mode distribution, which indicates switching of two alternating flow conditions in a region above the hydrofoil aft part due to periodic passing of cavitation clouds. Behaviors of the mean and most probable velocities unexpectedly appear to be different with a monotonous increase of the incoming flow velocity. This finding must be caused by modification of the skewness coefficient of the fluctuating velocity.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
The paper deals with an experimental study of tip-clearance cavitation inception and development and its vortical structure coupled with dynamics of the main attached cavity on the suction side of a ...two-dimensional symmetric hydrofoil equipped with a rotation axis. The gap is formed by the end face of the model and a transparent sidewall of the test channel. The experiments were performed for attack angles of 3° and 9° and 0.4-, 0.8-, 1.75- and 3.75-mm gaps (or 1.8%–17% relative thickness) under various flow conditions on the cavitation number. In order to observe the tip-clearance cavitation occurrence, high-speed imaging was applied. The leakage flow velocity was measured inside the clearance by a modified Particle Tracking Velocimetry technique. It is shown that the mean velocity field of the leaking flow is split into eight distinctive zones where the flow direction and velocity magnitude substantially differ. Positions and extents of these zones are practically independent of the primary flow regime but are affected by the attack angle. Local velocity values of the leakage flow are unexpectedly found to be about 20% higher in the region of a gap cavity than the mean bulk velocity of the incoming flow. Cavitating cores of various vortices manifest themselves in the recorded images, showing that the vortex structure of the leakage flow associated with the tip-clearance cavitation is very complicated and the hydrofoil axis makes it even more complex by inducing new vortices and cavities. For the gaps considered, an increase of its size causes the tip-clearance cavitation to be initiated at higher cavitation numbers, i.e., this is favorable for its occurrence, while the development of the main cavity is hindered. In unsteady flow regimes, dynamics of the primary cavity on the hydrofoil suction side significantly influences the leakage flow direction and the tip-clearance cavitation evolution. Periods of oscillation cycles of the main and gap cavities coincide but the maximum size of the gap cavity is reached with a phase lag relative to the main one. At the small incidence angle, thicker gaps and unsteady flow conditions, extremely transient pressure waves are registered in the clearance, with their velocities ranging from 41 to 81 m/s.
•The mean velocity field of the leakage flow split into eight distinctive zones.•Leakage-flow velocity about 20% higher in the region of gap cavity than the bulk flow velocity.•Increase in the gap size is favorable for tip-clearance cavitation occurrence.•Unsteady dynamics of the main cavity influences the tip-clearance cavitation evolution.•Transient pressure waves are generated in the clearance.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Tip-clearance cavitation is one of the most aggressive forms of cavitation as it can cause surface erosion of hydraulic machinery elements and, as a result, their fatigue damage and disturb designed ...operating conditions. At present, the literature lacks for detailed experimental data on the inception and development of this type of cavitation at various flow conditions. In the paper, a tip-leakage cavitation occurring in the clearance between an end face of a 2D hydrofoil (a scaled-down model of guide vanes (GV) of a Francis turbine) and a transparent wall of the test section was studied. The experiments were carried out for different cavitating regimes on the cavitation number and two attack angles of 3° and 9°, with the gap size (tip clearance width) varied in the range from 0.4 to 0.8 mm. In order to determine the cavitation inception conditions and investigate the dynamics of the tip-leakage cavitation, a high-speed visualization was applied. A modified PIV/PTV technique with a diverging laser beam instead of a laser light sheet was used to measure the mean velocity distributions within the gap. It was shown that the cavitation pattern on the suction side of the GV model impacts the dynamics of the leakage flow in the gap but does not affect the sheet cavity formed close to the foil leading edge in the clearance as well as its size and dynamics. When the gap size is increased, the tip-leakage cavitation initiates at higher cavitation numbers or, in other words, conditions for the cavitation occurrence become more favorable.
Tip-clearance cavitation is one of the most aggressive and widespread forms of cavitation in hydraulic machinery that occurs due to liquid leaking through narrow gaps between tips or end faces of ...blades/vanes and a stator wall. The research is aimed at the study of a passive control of tip-leakage flow and tip-clearance cavitation by modifying the gap geometry. The test object was a NACA0022-34 hydrofoil with a 100 mm chord that was equipped with a double-sided axis of rotation. The gap geometry was changed by mounting side plates with different end surfaces (flat and grooved) to the hydrofoil end face. We used high-speed imaging to analyze the temporal and spatial cavity evolution simultaneously on the foil suction side and inside the clearance using three cameras. The implemented control method was shown to allow an effective management of the tip-leakage flow and tip-clearance cavitation, especially at higher angles of attack. The modified end plate makes the tip-leakage flow less prone to cavitation as compared to the original one, i.e. the tip-clearance cavitation inception and development appear to be hampered.
•The low-speed (Uinj/U0 < 1) injection can mitigate cavitation, delaying the evolution of cavitating flow regime and suppressing the development of flow instabilities.•The low-speed injection ...simultaneously causes an increase of the turbulence intensity over the hydrofoil surface, which increases its drag and impairs its hydrodynamic quality.•The high-speed (Uinj/U0 > 1) injection is more preferable from the hydrodynamic standpoint but makes the flow more cavitation-prone.•In unsteady regimes, the wall jet turns out to be mostly ineffective to suppress flow instabilities but can substantially reduce the amplitude of pressure pulsations.•At high attack angles, an unsteady sheet cavity on the hydrofoil with the slot channel exhibits intermittent length variations due to superposition of instabilities.
We report on the experimental investigation of cavitating flow control over a 2D model of guide vanes of a Francis turbine by means of a continuous tangential injection of liquid along the foil surface. The generated wall jet, providing supplementary mass and momentum, issues from a nozzle chamber inside the hydrofoil through a spanwise slot channel on its upper surface. High-speed imaging was used to distinguish cavity flow regimes, study the spatial patterns and time dynamics of partial cavities, as well as to evaluate the characteristic integral parameters of cavitation. Time-resolved LIF visualization of the jet discharging from the nozzle was employed to check if the generated wall jet is stable and spanwise uniform. Hydroacoustic measurements were performed by a hydrophone to estimate how the amplitudes and frequencies of pressure pulsations associated with cavity oscillations change with the injection rate. A PIV technique was utilized to measure the mean velocity, its fluctuations and the dominant turbulent shear stress component, which were all compared for different flow conditions and with the results for the unmodified (standard) foil. The effect of injection rate on cavitation and flow dynamics was examined for three attack angles, 0, 3 and 9°, and a range of cavitation numbers corresponding to different regimes. The low-speed injection was shown to lead to an intensification of turbulent fluctuations in the boundary layer and shrinking of the attached cavity length by up to 25% compared to the case without injection. The injection with a high velocity, in turn, causes a rise of the local flow velocity and a reduction of turbulent fluctuations near the wall, which, consequently, increases the foil hydrodynamic quality at a relatively low energy consumption for generation of the wall jet. However, in this case the vapor cavity becomes longer. Thus, the low-speed injection turns out to be effective to mitigate cavitation but the injection at a high velocity is more preferable from the standpoint of the flow hydrodynamics. In the whole, the implemented control method showed to be quite an efficient tool to manipulate cavitation and hydrodynamic structure of the flow and, thereby, under certain conditions, to suppress the cavitation-caused instabilities.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP