A comparative study of two cavitation modeling strategies for simulation of inviscid cavitating flows

In the present work, two cavitation modeling strategies, namely the barotropic cavitation model and the transport equation-based model are applied and assessed for the numerical simulation of inviscid cavitating flows over two-dimensional and axisymmetric geometries. The algorithm uses the preconditioned Euler equations employing the interface capturing method for both the cavitation models. A same numerical solution procedure is used herein for discretizing the governing equations resulting from these two cavitation modeling strategies for the assessment to be valid and reliable. A central difference finite-volume scheme employing the suitable dissipation terms to account for density jumps across the cavity interface is shown to yield an effective method for solving the Euler equations. Results for steady inviscid cavitating flows over the NACA0012 and NACA66(MOD) hydrofoils and the hemispherical and ogive head shape bodies are obtained by applying these two cavitation modeling strategies and they are compared with each other for different conditions. A sensitivity study is conducted to evaluate the effects of various numerical and physical parameters involved in each cavitation model on the solution. The advantages and drawbacks of these two strategies for modeling of cavitating flows are also discussed. The present inviscid cavitation results are also compared with the experiments and the other inviscid and viscous cavitation results performed by other researchers and some conclusions are made. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.