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This paper describes an Eulerian/Lagrangian two-phase model for nucleating steam based on classical nucleation theory. The model provides an approach for including spontaneous homogeneous nucleation within a full Navier-Stokes solution scheme where the interaction between the liquid and gas phases for a pure fluid is through appropriately modeled source terms. The method allows for the straightforward inclusion of droplet heat, mass, and momentum transfer models along with nucleation within complex flow systems as found, for example, in low pressure steam turbines. The present paper describes the solution method, emphasizing that the important features of nucleating steam flow are retained through comparison with well-established 1-D solutions for Laval nozzle flows. Results for a two-dimensional cascade blade and three-dimensional low pressure turbine stage are also described.

A robust CFD model is described, suitable for general three-dimensional flows with extensive cavitation at large density ratios. The model utilizes a multiphase approach, based on volume-scalar-equations, a truncated Rayleigh-Plesset equation for bubble dynamics, and specific numerical modifications (in a finite-volume solution approach) to promote robust solutions when cavitation is present. The model is implemented in the CFD software CFX TASCflow 2.12. The validation of the model was done on an inducer designed and tested at LEMFI. First, The physical model and the numerical aspects are described. Then, the experimental and numerical methodologies, at cavitating regime, are presented. Finally, for several flow rates, the comparisons between experimental and simulated results on the overall performances, head drop and cavitation figures, are discussed. For a range of flow rates, good agreement between experiment and prediction was found.

This study investigates unsteady flow in tube bundles and fluid forces, which can lead to large tube vibration amplitudes, in particular, amplitudes associated with fluidelastic instability (FEI). The fluidelastic forces are approximated by the coupling of the unsteady flow model (UFM) with computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The CFD model employed solves the Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes equations for unsteady turbulent flow and is cast in an arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian form to handle any motion associated with tubes. The CFD solution provides time domain forces that are used to calculate added damping and stiffness coefficients employed with the UFM. The investigation demonstrates that the UFM utilized in conjunction with CFD is a viable approach for calculating the stability map for a given tube array. The FEI was predicted for in-line square and normal triangle tube arrays over a mass damping parameter range of 0.1– 100. The effect of the P/d ratio and the Reynolds number on the FEI threshold was also investigated.

A pressure based Eulerian multifluid model for application to phase transition with droplet dynamics in transonic high-speed flows is described. It is implemented using an element-based finite-volume method, which is implicit in time and solves mass and momentum conservation across all phases via a coupled algebraic multigrid approach. The model emphasizes treatment of the condensed phases, with their respective velocity and thermal fields, in inertial nonequilibrium and metastable gas flow conditions. The droplet energy state is treated either in algebraic form or through transport equations depending on appropriate physical assumptions. Due to the complexity of the two-phase phenomena, the model is presented and validated by exploring phase transition and droplet dynamics in a turbine cascade geometry. The influence of droplet inertia on localized homogeneous nucleation is examined.