Numerical Simulation of Tip Vortex Cavitation Inception

Paper in proceeding, 2021

Tip vortex cavitating flow is known as challenging to study. The objective of this paper is to investigate the effective parameters in numerical modelling of tip vortex cavitation (TVC) inception through the comparison of three different models. The models are (1) a commonly used homogenous mixture model, in which inception is based on pressure drop criterion; (2) a Lagrangian bubble model, in which cavitation is initiated from free nuclei in the liquid; and (3) a hybrid Eulerian-Lagrangian model, in which the cavities are initiated based on the pressure drop criterion, but the growth of initially small cavities are modelled using the more accurate Lagrangian equations. The simulations are conducted on the tip vortex flow around an elliptical foil. The results show that the commonly applied pressure drop assumption is not a sufficient criterion for cavitation inception. Also, it is seen that the water quality and nuclei transport towards the vortex core influence the cavity pattern at inception.