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Possibilities and limits of modeling cavitation in high-pressure homogenizers – a validation study

Rütten, Eva LU ; Leister, Nico ; Karbstein, Heike P. and Håkansson, Andreas LU (2024) In Chemical Engineering Science 283.
Abstract

High-pressure homogenizers are widely used in industrial processes to produce emulsions with small droplet sizes. During the process, cavitation occurs under industrial process conditions. In order to investigate the flow conditions inside a homogenizer geometry, CFD simulations are commonly used, since it is not possible to evaluate local flow conditions experimentally. However, these studies have, so far, investigated flow under non-cavitating conditions, which do not adequately reflect industrial process conditions. This study investigates the extent to which the two cavitation models, the Schnerr-Sauer model and the Zwart-Gerber-Belamri model, can represent cavitation in the gap of the homogenizing geometry using RANS simulation.... (More)

High-pressure homogenizers are widely used in industrial processes to produce emulsions with small droplet sizes. During the process, cavitation occurs under industrial process conditions. In order to investigate the flow conditions inside a homogenizer geometry, CFD simulations are commonly used, since it is not possible to evaluate local flow conditions experimentally. However, these studies have, so far, investigated flow under non-cavitating conditions, which do not adequately reflect industrial process conditions. This study investigates the extent to which the two cavitation models, the Schnerr-Sauer model and the Zwart-Gerber-Belamri model, can represent cavitation in the gap of the homogenizing geometry using RANS simulation. Simulations are validated with experimental cavitation visualization data. Results show that the Schnerr-Sauer model (with appropriately set modeling constants) is able to accurately predict the operating conditions responsible for cavitation inception in the valve, as well as the length and width of the cavitation zone.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Cavitation, Computational fluid dynamics, High-pressure homogenization, Orifice, RANS, Schnerr-Sauer, Zwart-Gerber-Belamri
in
Chemical Engineering Science
volume
283
article number
119405
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85174679552
ISSN
0009-2509
DOI
10.1016/j.ces.2023.119405
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
319d248c-34e3-432d-9072-f92c11902acd
date added to LUP
2023-10-30 16:06:49
date last changed
2023-12-20 17:41:47
@article{319d248c-34e3-432d-9072-f92c11902acd,
  abstract     = {{<p>High-pressure homogenizers are widely used in industrial processes to produce emulsions with small droplet sizes. During the process, cavitation occurs under industrial process conditions. In order to investigate the flow conditions inside a homogenizer geometry, CFD simulations are commonly used, since it is not possible to evaluate local flow conditions experimentally. However, these studies have, so far, investigated flow under non-cavitating conditions, which do not adequately reflect industrial process conditions. This study investigates the extent to which the two cavitation models, the Schnerr-Sauer model and the Zwart-Gerber-Belamri model, can represent cavitation in the gap of the homogenizing geometry using RANS simulation. Simulations are validated with experimental cavitation visualization data. Results show that the Schnerr-Sauer model (with appropriately set modeling constants) is able to accurately predict the operating conditions responsible for cavitation inception in the valve, as well as the length and width of the cavitation zone.</p>}},
  author       = {{Rütten, Eva and Leister, Nico and Karbstein, Heike P. and Håkansson, Andreas}},
  issn         = {{0009-2509}},
  keywords     = {{Cavitation; Computational fluid dynamics; High-pressure homogenization; Orifice; RANS; Schnerr-Sauer; Zwart-Gerber-Belamri}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{01}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Chemical Engineering Science}},
  title        = {{Possibilities and limits of modeling cavitation in high-pressure homogenizers – a validation study}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ces.2023.119405}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.ces.2023.119405}},
  volume       = {{283}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}