PIV analysis and high-speed photographic observation of cavitating flow field behind circular multi-orifice plates

Based on a self-developed hydrodynamic cavitation device with different geometric parameters for circular multi-orifice plates, turbulence characteristics of cavitating flow behind multi-orifice plates, including the effects of orifice number and orifice layout on longitudinal velocity, turbulence intensity, and Reynolds stress, were measured with the particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique. Flow regimes of the cavitating flow were also observed with high-speed photography. The experimental results showed the following: (1) high-velocity multiple cavitating jets occurred behind the multi-orifice plates, and the cavitating flow fields were characterized by topological structures; (2) the longitudinal velocity at each cross-section exhibited a sawtooth-like distribution close to the multi-orifice plate, and each sawtooth indicated one jet issuing from one orifice; (3) there were similar magnitudes and forms for the longitudinal and vertical turbulence intensities at the same cross-section; (4) the variation in amplitude of Reynolds stress increased with an increase in orifice number; and (5) the cavitation clouds in the flow fields became denser with the increase in orifice number, and the clouds generated by the staggered layout of orifices were greater in number than those generated by the checkerboard-type one for the same orifice number. The experimental results can be used to analyze the mechanism of killing pathogenic microorganisms through hydrodynamic cavitation. (c) 2020 Hohai University. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).