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Development of a cavitation susceptibility meter for nuclei size distribution measurements
Citation
Khoo, MT and Venning, JA and Pearce, BW and Brandner, PA and Lecoffre, Y, Development of a cavitation susceptibility meter for nuclei size distribution measurements, Proceedings of the 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference (AFMC), 5-8 December 2016, Perth, Australia, pp. 1-4. ISBN 978-1-74052-377-6 (2016) [Refereed Conference Paper]
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Copyright Statement
Copyright 2016 Australasian Fluid Mechanics Society
Official URL: http://people.eng.unimelb.edu.au/imarusic/proceedi...
Abstract
Cavitation inception in practical flows is invariably heterogeneous
as nucleation sites are provided by microbubble populations.
Microbubbles grow explosively, filling with vapour, when
exposed to a critical pressure which is size dependent. The detection
of physical bubble activations in a known pressure field
can therefore be used to measure bubble size distributions. The
nuclei population within a test flow can be measured using a
venturi and by counting the number of activations or events
using the acoustic emission from each bubble collapse in the
downstream pressure recovery region. Such devices are known
as Cavitation Susceptibility Meters (CSMs).
The development, calibration and operation of a CSM for use
in the cavitation tunnel at the Australian Maritime College is
described. The minimum pressure in the CSM is reduced in
steps by increasing the flow rate or decreasing tunnel static pressure
to activate increasing numbers of smaller nuclei in order to
provide a cumulative size distribution. Simultaneous flow rate
measurement permits nuclei volumetric concentration as well
as venturi throat pressure to be determined.
The concentration measurement is shown to have an uncertainty
of less than 0.5%, while the critical pressure has an uncertainty
of approximately 5%. The volume measurement and timing uncertainties
for flow rate calibration are found to account for 81%
of this uncertainty. Sample nuclei distribution measurements
are presented, showing critical pressures as low as 100 kPa below
vapour pressure, corresponding to an equivalent bubble diameter
of 1 µm in the test section.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Conference Paper |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | cavitation, nuclei, experimental techniques |
| Research Division: | Engineering |
| Research Group: | Maritime Engineering |
| Research Field: | Marine Engineering |
| Objective Division: | Defence |
| Objective Group: | Defence |
| Objective Field: | Emerging Defence Technologies |
| Author: | Venning, JA (Mr James Venning) |
| Author: | Pearce, BW (Dr Bryce Pearce) |
| Author: | Brandner, PA (Associate Professor Paul Brandner) |
| ID Code: | 113049 |
| Year Published: | 2016 |
| Deposited By: | NC Maritime Engineering and Hydrodynamics |
| Deposited On: | 2016-12-08 |
| Last Modified: | 2017-03-09 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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