Study of passive control study of the cavitation instability on a venturi profile

Abstract

As a source of vibrations, noise, erosion and structure damages, cavitation is a major handicap for many industrial flows used in different domains from propeller or pump studies, to the analysis of hydrodynamic flows around a profile. This work presents results of the effect of a passive control method, based on surface roughness, on a venturi profile in order to determine how to reduce or even suppress cloud cavitation developed on its suction side. Visualizations and velocity measurements permit to detect the influence of roughness on flow development. So as to have a better understanding of flow dynamics of sheet and cloud cavitation, robust mathematical methods of imaging post-processing have been used like Proper Orthogonal Decomposition.