THE EROSIVE AXIAL COLLAPSE OF A CAVITATING VORTEX - AN EXPERIMENTAL-STUDY

The erosive efficiency of cavitating vortices is well known, although its exact mechanism has not been clarified In order to bring fundament al information to the subject, a new device called ''Cavermod'' wets d esigned in which axial collapse of a cavitating vortex is produced. We consider in this paper the design principles of the apparatus, the me asurement equipment necessary for observing the phenomenon (collapse t ime of the order of a few milliseconds, axial collapse velocity varyin g between 70 and 700 m/s), and the main features of the flow. We also study the damage produced on erosion targets in order to correlate the vortex collapse with the erosion indentation features.