Numerical Investigation of Tip Leakage Vortex Cavitating Flow in a Waterjet Pump with Emphasis on Flow Characteristics and Energy Features

The Delayed Detached Eddy Simulation (DDES) turbulence model was coupled with a homogeneous cavitation model to analyze the tip-leakage vortex (TLV) cavitating-flow characteristics in a waterjet pump. The numerical results agree well with experimental data. The results show that the vortex evolution in the waterjet pump has three stages, which is similar to that around a hydrofoil, but the vorticity variations in the waterjet pump are more complicated. The relative-vorticity-transport equation was then applied to find the reason for the differences between the vorticity variation observed in the waterjet pump and that around a hydrofoil. The results indicate that the drastic fusion process of the TSV cavity and the TLV cavity in the waterjet pump resulted in the formation of triangular cavitation region near the blade tip that is difficult to reproduce by stationary hydrofoil simulation. This fusion process caused the local variation of fluid volume and further affected the vorticity transport. The entropy-production evaluation method considering the phase transition was then used to analyze the dissipation losses in the complex cavitation region. The results indicate that the drastic fusion process of the TSV cavity and the TLV cavity significantly influenced the entropy production rate distributions and enhanced the disturbance of the flow field. In addition, severe phase transition occurs in the drastic fusion region accompanied by huge phase-transition losses.