Cavitation
Cavitation simulation in OpenFOAM with a GUI
Model vapour formation and collapse in low-pressure regions on propellers, pumps and valves using interPhaseChangeFoam.
What it is
Where local pressure drops below the vapour pressure of the liquid, vapour forms and then collapses again downstream. The phase-change model couples that to the flow, which is what distinguishes a cavitation run from ordinary two-phase flow.
What the application sets up
- Saturation pressure and the phase-change model coefficients
- Liquid and vapour properties from the materials library
- The pressure reference a closed system requires
- Fields and boundary conditions for the two-phase set
Typical uses
- Propeller and impeller blade cavitation
- Pump inlet performance and NPSH margin
- Valve and orifice throttling
- Erosion risk screening
Industries
Sectors where this analysis is routinely asked for.
- Pumps & turbomachinery
- Marine propulsion
- Hydraulic systems
- Fuel injection
What comes out
- Vapour fraction field
- Cavity extent and closure location
- Head-drop onset
- Surfaces at erosion risk
OpenFOAM solvers
interPhaseChangeFoam
Selected and configured for you from the analysis type. You can still see every dictionary the application writes.
In every tier
This analysis type is in the free build. The free tier limits mesh size to 250,000 cells and solving to one core — not which physics you may use.
On accuracy, plainly.
Every analysis type is exercised end to end on every pass — its case is generated, meshed and run — which establishes that the setup is right, not that the answer matches your geometry. No CFD result is evidence until it is checked against something you trust: a measurement, a hand calculation, or a mesh-refinement study the application will run for you. Treat these results with the judgement you would apply to any CFD you set up yourself.