Status

completed

Scientists

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Bettar Ould el Moctar
Andreas Peters, M.Sc.
Dr.-Ing. Udo Lantermann

Project Description

In ship technology, cavitation is an unwanted occurrence. Each time the local pressure drops below the vapour pressure of the water, cavitation occurs. Once the local pressure exceeds this threshold value again, the steam cloud implodes within a very short period of time and high pressure peaks may arise. This especially occurs in areas where high speeds are concerned. In the field of ship technology cavitation particularly occurs at appendages like propellers and rudders. If cavitation occurs near solid structures, erosion may occur.

The aim of the joint research project KonKav III was to improve the experimental and numerical prediction of cavitation erosion.

One major aim of the sub-project at the University of Duisburg-Essen was to develop numerical methods to predict cavitation erosion at appendages. The newly developed numerical methods were validated by means of comparison with basic tests carried out by project partners. Figure 1 illustrates the prediction of cavitation erosion by model testing with erosion coating in a cavitation tunnel and by the developed numerical model.

Another aim of this sub-project was, based on the experience gained in the joint research project, to prepare recommendations for simulations and measurements for cavitation erosion prediction.

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Figure1: Prediction of cavitation erosion by the numerical model (left) and result by model testing with erosion coating (right), cavitation numberσ=1.464
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​Funding

Publications

1. Peters, A., Sagar, H., Lantermann, U., and el Moctar, O., “Numerical Modelling and Prediction of Cavitation Erosion”, Wear, Vol. 338-339, pp. 189-201, 2015
2. Peters, A., Lantermann, U., and el Moctar, O., “Numerical Modelling and Prediction of Erosion Induced by Hydrodynamic Cavitation”, Proceedings of the 9^th Symposium on Cavitation (CAV), Lausanne, Switzerland, 2015

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