Cavitating flow control through continuous tangential mass injection on a 2D hydrofoil at a small attack angle

Abstract

We studied cavitating flow over the suction side of a symmetric 2D foil – a scaled-down model of high-pressure hydroturbine guide vanes (GV) – in different cavitation regimes at the attack angle of 3°. High-speed imaging was used to analyze spatial patterns and time dynamics of the gas-vapour cavities. A hydroacoustic pressure transducer was employed to register time-spectra of pressure fluctuations nearby the hydrofoil. A PIV technique was applied to measure the velocity fields and its fluctuations. The active flow control was implemented by means of a continuous liquid supply with different flow rates through a slot channel located in the GV surface. It was found that the active mass injection does not influence the primary flow upstream of the slot channel position. For the cavitation-free and cavitation inception cases, the injection was shown to make the turbulent wake past the GV section more intense. However, at the developed cavitation regimes the active flow management made it possible to reduce substantially the amplitude or even totally suppress the periodic cavity length oscillations and pressure pulsations associated with them.