Cavitation inception in the near field of high Reynolds number axisymmetric jets is analyzed using a simplified computational model. The model combines a vorticity-stream-function finite-difference scheme for the simulation of the unsteady flow field with a simplified representation for microscopic bubbles that are injected at the jet inlet. The motion of the bubbles is tracked in a Lagrangian reference frame by integrating a semiempirical dynamical equation which accounts for pressure, drag, and lift forces. The likelihood of cavitation inception is estimated based on the distributions of pressure and microscopic bubbles. The computations are used to examine the role of jet slenderness ratio, Reynolds number, bubble size, and bubble injection location on the cavitation inception indices. The results indicate that, for all bubble sizes considered, the cavitation inception index increases as the jet slenderness ratio decreases. Larger bubbles entrain more rapidly into the cores of concentrated vortices than smaller bubbles, and the corresponding inception indices are generally higher than those of smaller bubbles. The inception indices for larger bubbles are insensitive to the injection location, while the inception indices of smaller bubbles tend to increase when they are injected inside the shear layer near the nozzle lip. Although it affects the bubble distributions, variation of the Reynolds number leads to insignificant changes in pressure minima and in the inception indices of larger bubbles, having noticeable effect only on the inception indices of smaller bubbles. Computed results are consistent with, and provide plausible explanations for, several trends observed in recent jet cavitation experiments. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S1070-6631(00)00310-X]. [References: 30]
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