Cavitation: Liquid-Vapour Phase Transition

Figure 6.1 — Cavitation: Liquid-Vapour Phase Transition

Cavitation is modeled as a phase transition whose rate depends on local pressure-vs-vapor-pressure:

pub trait Cavitation {
    fn inception_pressure<F: FloatElement>(&self) -> F;
    fn collapse_rate<F: FloatElement>(&self, p: F) -> F;
}

The default model is a Rayleigh–Plesset closure; an Eulerian–Eulerian variant is available for strong cloud-cavitation flows.

Damage accumulation is integrated per timestep as

damage += (inception_indicator) · (collapse_rate · dt)

and reported through the [cfd-3d::posterior::damage] hook. Outputs are dimensionally consistent (kg/m²/s) so that downstream fatigue models can post-process without re-scaling.

Examples Referenced by This Chapter

• venturi_cavitation — venturi cavitation inception and collapse.
• simple_cavitation — single-bubble Rayleigh–Plesset in a constrained channel.
• cavitation_damage_simulation — long-time damage integration under turbulent inflow.
• 1d_venturi_cavitation — 1-D reduced cavitation model.

Further Reading

• cfd-3d cavitation module
• For the unified Integrate trait, turbulence closures, and multiphase coupling, see Turbulence Models and Cavitation.