Numerical investigations in the behaviour of one-dimensional bubbly flow in hydrodynamic cavitation

Hydrodynamic cavitation has been attempted as an alternative to acoustic ca vitation over past few years and this form of cavitation has been proved to hold higher potential for industrial scale processes. In this work, we hav e tried to investigate the dynamics of the bubbly flow in hydrodynamic cavi tation with the help of numerical simulations. A continuum bubbly mixture m odel is used to study the one-dimensional cavitating flow through a venturi . The nonlinear dynamics of the bubbles has been modeled by Rayleigh-Plesse t equation. The results of the simulations show that the bubble/bubble and bubble/flow interaction through the hydrodynamics of the flow has important effect on the behavior of the: bubbly flow. Effect of parameters such as d ownstream recovery pressure, venturi to pipe area ratio, initial bubble voi d fraction in liquid and initial bubble size in the flow on the dynamics of the flow has been studied. Based on the results of the simulations, recomm endations have been made for an effective design and scale-up of a hydrodyn amic cavitation reactor. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved .