TY - JOUR
TI - Improvement of the performance of small-sized cavitating venturis by inserting obstacles
AU - Rostane Brahim
AU - Aliane Khaled
AU - Brayyich Mohammed
AU - Zearah Sajad A
AU - Akgül Ali
AU - Abdullaeva Barno
AU - Menni Younes
AU - Alsharari Abdulrhman M
AU - Asad Jihad
JN - Thermal Science
PY - 2023
VL - 27
IS - 4
SP - 3467
EP - 3475
PT - Article
AB - Cavitating Venturis are simple apparatus used as a flow meter over a broad  range of mass-flow rates. The main objective of this work is to introduce  obstacles in small-sized cavitating Venturis in order to increase their  capacity by raising the critical pressure, i.e. widens the phase of the  cavitating mode. Four configurations have been tested depending on the  location of these obstacles. This study focused on investigating the  numerical performance of cavitating Venturis with different downstream  pressures by employing the k-ω SST turbulence model and the Rayleigh-Plesset  equation for modeling cavitation. The governing equations were solved using  the finite volume method, employing the Rhie and Chow pressure-velocity  coupling scheme. The results showed the void fraction and streamlines  contours obtained on the symmetry plane. The mass-flow ratio was presented  for all configurations and different pressure ratios. The study showed that  the cavitating Venturis equipped with obstacles extend the phase of choked  mode from 10.71% to 21.42% and that the best configuration correspond to the  case where the obstacles are placed in the converging section.