Evolution of a Cavitating Bubble in a Nonuniform Pressure Field

The cavitation erosion problem is not a new one; however, it is still important and even becomes more pressing. This is associated with requirements to justify and extend service life of power-generating plants while obviously seeking the maximum efficiency. Currently semiempirical correlation relations are typically used in pump designing for prediction of modes of operation that may be hazardous in terms of development of cavitation erosion [1, 2]. It appears, however, that a progress can be made in this field by introducing numerical modeling of flow with direct modeling of the cavitation erosion process. This optimism is based on an established fact that the major effect of erosion damage is observed in the mode of operation between the “NPSH-incipient” mode (mode of activation of vapor-phase formation centers) and the “NPSH-3%” mode (mode where a noticeable vapor volume content is produced in the near-wall layer), i.e. in the mode of operation where the vapor volume content is small and its effect on flow characteristics can be neglected.