Cavitation Modeling in Cryogenic Fluids for Liquid Rocket Engine Applications

Paper number AIAA-2008-3842 The aim of this investigation is to compare the results of the numerical simulation of cryogenic flows using different cavitation models, taking into account other additional hypothesis as bubble number variation and thermal effects. Different cavitation models have been analyzed. A particular focus is for the so called “full cavitation” model that presents, in the expression of the mass transfer due to cavitation, some empirical coefficients tested in the past for water and not for cryogenic flows. Then thermal and nucleation effects have been taking into account, solving the transport equations for the bubble density and energy conservation. The performances of the different models have been compared with the experimental data of a flowfield of liquid hydrogen flowing in a Venturi device. The calculated pressure, temperature and vapor profiles have been compared for the different models with experimental data.