Computations of partial and super cavitating flows using implicit pressure-based algorithm (IPA)

An implicit pressure-based algorithm (IPA) has been developed for the computations of the two-phase cavitating flows. A pressure correction equation is derived to meet the mass conservation law and the pressure–velocity coupled method is used to solve for the governing equations of the flows. Both partial and super cavitating flows are simulated in this work to validate the IPA approach and to investigate the unsteady features of the cavitating flows. It is found that strong re-entrant jets are present for all the simulations of the cavitating flows over the flat-nose cylindrical objects. For partial cavitating flows, the re-entrant jets appear periodically and become the main reason of cavitation shedding. For super cavitating flows, the re-entrant jets mainly interact with the wake flows of the object.

► Development of an implicit pressure-based algorithm for unsteady cavitating flow computations. ► Applicability of the formulation derived to different transfer equation models. ► Implementation of the algorithm in the open-source program, Openfoam. ► Computations of both partial and super cavitating flows over cylinders. ► A good ability in capturing the transient re-entrant jets in cavitating flows.