Experimental study on the cavitation of vortex diode based on CFD

Abstract

To investigate effects of the boundary conditions on vortex diode performance, CFD simulations and experiment were carried out on vortex diodes with different inlet velocity and outlet pressure. The results show that the cavitation flow is made up of the vapor caused by the low pressure in the chamber and the non-condensing gas transported to the center by the pressure drop of the swirling flow according to Dicipline of Henrry. The size of the cavitation flow increases as the Reynolds Number increases, and decreases as the outlet pressure which makes initial velocity of cavitation higher. The performance of vortex diode is deeply influenced by cavitation flow due to the forced vortex. The above-mentioned methods and results are of great guiding significance to predict the performance of vortex diode. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.