CFD Analysis on the Effect of Inlet Pressure in Slit and Circular Venturi Utilized for Hydrodynamic Cavitation

A series of operational and geometrical parameters play an important role in the performance of cavitation reactors. In this work, the effect of inlet pressure and consequently cavitation number(Cv), in slit venturi and circular venturi that are commonly utilized for hydrodynamic cavitation generation has been studied using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The flow behavior was simulated in three-dimensional cavitating venturi using a commercial flow solver FLUENT. Mixture model and turbulence model standard k – ε were used for such purpose. Also, The Fluid flow was considered as steady state and incompressible. The obtained results indicate an increase in cavitation zone with increase in pressure within the assumed range of 3 bar to 10 bar for both types, while the circular one is more disposed to super cavitation phenomenon in high level of pressure. The investigation also implies that the better performance of circular venturi regarding to form effective cavitational events that can be widely used for hydrodynamic cavitation based processes.

Keywords:

Hydrodynamic cavitation , slit venturi , circular venturi , Cavitation zone , Cavitation number