Models of Cavitation Event Rates

Abstract

To model the processes of cavitation inception, noise, and damage, it is necessary to generate a model of the cavitation event rate which can then be coupled with the consequences of the individual events to produce a complete synthesis of the phenomenon. In this paper we describe recent efforts to connect the observed event rates to the measured distributions of cavitation nuclei in the oncoming stream. A comparison is made between the observed event rates and event rates calculated from measured nuclei distributions using an algorithm which includes the dynamics of the nuclei motion and growth. Various complications are explored including the relative motion between the nucleus and the liquid, the effect of the finite bubble size of the growing bubble relative to the dimensions of the low pressure region, and the effect of bubble growth on neighboring nuclei. All of these are seen to have an important influence on the event rate, and therefore, on cavitation inception and other macroscopic consequences. We demonstrate that it is possible to predict the correct order of magnitude of the event rate when an attempt is made to model the important flow complications.