International audienceAn experimental study of hydrodynamic cavitation downstream microdiaphragms and microventuris is presented. Deionized water and nanofluids have been characterized within silicon-Pyrex micromachined devices with hydraulic diameters ranging from 51 μm to 104 μm. The input pressure could reach up to 10 bars, and the flow rate was below 1 liter per hour. The output pressure of the devices was fixed at values ranging from 0.3 bar to 2 bars, so that it was possible to study the evolution of the cavitation number as a function of the Reynolds number in the orifice of the diaphragms or in the throat of the venturis. A delay on the onset of cavitation has been recorded for all the devices when they are fed with deionized water, because of the metastability of the liquid and because of the lack of roughness of the walls. For the first time, hydrodynamic cavitation of nanofluids (nanoparticles dispersed into the liquid) has been considered. The presence of nano-aggregates in the liquid does not exhibit any noticeable effect on the cavitation threshold through the venturis. However, such a presence has a strong influence on the cavitation onset in microdiaphragms: above a critical volume solid concentration of ≈10−5, the metastability is broken and the nanofluids behave as tap water filled up with large nuclei. These microdevices, where a low amount of fluid is required to reach cavitating flows, appear to be useful tools in order to study cavitating phenomena in localized area with specific fluids

International audienceNumerical calculations in the single liquid phase and optical observations in the two-phase cavitating flow regime have been performed on microdiaphragms and microventuris fed with deionized water. Simulations have confirmed the influence of the shape of the shrinkage upon the contraction of the jet, and so on the localisation of possible cavitating area downstream. Observations of cavitating flow patterns through hybrid silicon-pyrex microdevices have been performed either via a laser excitation with a pulse duration of 6 ns, or with the help of a high-speed camera. Recorded snapshots and movies are presented. Concerning microdiaphragms, it is confirmed that very high shear rates downstream the diaphragms are the cause of bubbly flows. Concerning microventuris, a gaseous cavity forms on a boundary downstream the throat. As a consequence of a microsystem instability, the cavity displays a high frequency pulsation. Low values Strouhal numbers are associated to such a sheet cavitation. Moreover, when the intensity of the cavitating flow is reduced, there is a mismatch between the frequency of the pulsation of the cavity and the frequency of shedded clouds downstream the channel. That may be the consequence of viscous effects limiting the impingement of a re-entrant liquid jet on the attached cavity