Fluid Dynamics of Cavitation and Cavitating Turbopumps
July 25, 2005 — July 29, 2005
Coordinators:
- Maria Vittoria Salvetti (Università di Pisa, Pisa, Italy)
- Luca d'Agostino (Università di Pisa, Pisa, Italy)
Cavitation is frequently encountered in hydraulic machinery, where it represents the major source of performance and life degradation and often provides the
necessary excitation and compliance for triggering dangerous fluid dynamic instabilities. However, it is usually tolerated especially in high performance applications in order to avoid the excessive reduction of the power density. From the fundamental standpoint cavitation is a complex phenomenon, which poses formidable obstacles in terms of both physical and numerical modeling. For this reason theoretical analyses and simulations alone are still of limited value for accurate prediction of cavitation phenomena and instabilities, and must be supported by detailed experimentation for the solution of specific technical problems.
The course is aimed at providing the participants with a detailed introduction to the physics, fluid dynamics, modeling and numerical simulation of cavitation phenomena in engineering applications, with special emphasis on high performance turbopumps and their cavitation-induced instabilities. To this purpose the first
part of the lectures will cover the more fundamental aspects of cavitation (nucleation, bubble dynamics, thermodynamic effects, cavitation erosion, stability of parallel bubbly flows) and the main kinds of cavitating flows (attached cavitation, cloud cavitation, supercavitation, ventilated supercavities, vortex cavitation, shear cavitation). The second part of the course will illustrate the alternative approaches for modeling and engineering simulation of cavitating flow. Finally, the third part of the lectures will focus on the hydrodynamics and instabilities of cavitating turbopumps (cavitation surge, rotating cavitation, higher order cavitation surge, rotordynamic whirl forces).
The lecturers will use the background information to introduce the major topics currently open for cavitation research and stimulate the active participation of the audience by presenting and discussing original findings and results in their areas of expertise.
The course is addressed to doctoral/postdoctoral students, researchers, scientists, scholars and professionals from universities, research institutions and industries active in aerospace, mechanical, chemical and naval engineering, applied mechanics, applied mathematics, industrial chemistry and applied physics, who are interested in perfecting their knowledge and understanding of cavitating flow phenomena and research in a wide range of engineering applications.