International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow 39 (2013) 160172

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International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijhff

Evaluating cavitation regimes in an internal orice at different temperatures

using frequency analysis and visualization
M.G. De Giorgi , A. Ficarella, M. Tarantino
University of Salento, Dep. of Engineering for Innovation, Lecce 73100, Italy

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 16 December 2010
Received in revised form 2 July 2012
Accepted 11 November 2012
Available online 6 December 2012
Keywords:
Cavitation
Image spectral analysis
Orice
Thermal effects
Visualizations

a b s t r a c t
Experiments on a water cavitating orice were conducted to investigate the inuence of pressure and
temperature on ow regime transition due to cavitation. The thermal effects could be important in cases
with cryogenic cavitation or hot uid injection. The investigations were based on CCD observations and a
pressure uctuations frequency analysis.
The high-speed photographic recordings were used to analyze the cavitation evolution and individuate
the frequency content of the two-phase ow by processing the pixel-intensity time-series data.
The cavitating structures showed different behaviors and characteristics with variations in operating
conditions, as the pressure inside the orice and the ow temperature .
The ow regime map for the cavitating ow was obtained using experimental observations to analyze
the occurrence of the different two-phase ow regime transitions at various operating conditions.
As the pressure at the orice inlet increased, at the same downstream pressure, cavitation inception
occurred. The decrease of the cavitation number brought a signicant increase in cavitation zone extension. As the pressure drop inside the orice increased, the cavitation was characterized by an evident
increase in cavitation zone length to the outlet of the orice. With a further cavitation number decrease,
the transition to jet cavitation was evident.
The temperature inuenced both the cavitation intensity and the cavitation number at which different
two-phase ow regime transitions occurred, which tended to increase with temperature.
The vapor fraction was estimated using an image processing algorithm.
The frequency content given by the pressure uctuations was analyzed and compared with the frequency spectra obtained from the visual observations. The behavior of the different cavitating ows could
be correlated to the frequency spectrum of the pressure uctuations measured upstream and downstream of the orice. The cavitation number reduction and consequent increase in cavitating area width
were related to a corresponding signicant increase in the amplitude of typical frequency components.
The transition to jet cavitation was characterized by a signicant increase in the rst peak in the frequency spectrum; weaker spectral peaks were also present at high cavitation numbers.
2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Several studies have examined cavitation (Abdel-Maksoud
et al., 2010; Arndt et al., 1999; Brennen, 1995; Payri et al., 2009;
Schneider et al., 2007; Suh and Lee, 2008; Tseng and Shyy, 2010;
Vortmann et al., 2003). It negatively affects the performance of
many machines and can damage materials and vibrations.
Cavitation occurs when vapor cavities grow in a liquid, due to
decreasing local pressure below the saturation pressure corresponding to the local temperature. Traveling with the ow, vapor
Corresponding author. Address: University of Salento, Dep. of Engineering for
Innovation, Research Center for Energy and Environment (UNILECCE-DII-CREA), Via
per Monteroni, Lecce I-73100, Italy. Tel.: +39 0832297759; fax: +39 0832297777.
E-mail address: mariagrazia.degiorgi@unisalento.it (M.G. De Giorgi).
0142-727X/$ - see front matter 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatuidow.2012.11.002

bubbles collapse implosively near a solid surface when subjected

to high pressure levels, causing tiny pits or craters.
Several recent observations of cavitating ows have been performed to understand the mechanism of cavitation instability
due to bubble growth and collapse. The dynamics of the cavitation
structures are inuenced by time and space, and they vary rapidly
in time, as observed by Chandra and Collicott (1999), who studied
the frequency of cavitation shedding in a two-dimensional slot orice. Ezddin et al. (2008) analyzed the periodical shedding of vapor
structures in a submerged cavitating water jet, individuating the
relevant frequency by processing the high-speed camera visualization. Sato and Saito (2002) studied cavitation development in
large-scale cavitating nozzles; using CCD images, they evaluated
a frequency of approximately 250 Hz for the cyclic cavitation cloud
shedding.

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161

Nomenclature
B
B-factor
Cpl
specic heat at constant pressure of liquid (J/kg K)
d
diameter of the restricted area (m)
D
diameter at the orice inlet (m)
f
frequency (Hz)
h
heat transfer coefcient (W/m2 K)
latent heat of evaporation (J/kg)
Lev
p
pressure (Pa)
pv
vapor tension (Pa)
pinlet
pressure at the orice inlet (Pa)
pressure at the orice outlet (Pa)
pout
pb
pressure in the vapor bubble (Pa)
Rb
bubble radius (m)
Re
Reynolds number, qfuinletD/l
R0
inlet bubble radius (m)
Rb Rb =R0 non-dimensional bubble radius

The present work experimentally investigated the cavitation

patterns of the water ow into a sharp-edged orice to clarify criteria for cavitation inception and the relationship between ow
conditions and cavitation ow patterns inside an orice. To accomplish this goal, two different methods were applied and compared:
CCD visualizations and a detailed spectral analysis.
Many researchers have previously investigated cavitation in
orices (He and Ruiz, 1995; Ramamurthi and Nandakumar, 1999;
Tullis and Govindarajan, 1973; Sanchez, 1999).
The ow through an injection nozzle inuences spray formation
and atomization as well as the nozzles combustion efciency and
pollutant formation. Nurick (1976) performed a deep analysis of
the complex nature of ows in circular and rectangular orices.
Sharp-edge orices were incorporated into unlike-impinging-doublet injector elements. The spray mixing uniformity was determined at different ow conditions, with and without cavitation.
Cavitation was shown to cause a reduction in mixing uniformity
for circular orice elements. Ahn et al. (2006) and Tamaki et al.
(1998, 2001) observed a positive contribution to the jet breakup.
Cavitation in orices has also been investigated on a microscale. In experimental studies, Mishra and Peles (2005a, 2005b,
2006a, 2006b) demonstrated that cavitation in micro-orices is
characterized by several two-phase morphologies that are not
present in cavitating macro-scale nozzles. Schneider et al. (2006)
found signicant heat transfer enhancement during supercavitating ow conditions compared to noncavitating ows with minimal
pressure drop penalties in a microchannel. The dominant heat
transfer mechanism was analyzed by visualizing the ow morphology and heat transfer coefcient characteristics.
As Yan and Thorpe (1990) demonstrated, the ow transition between cavitation inception to supercavitation in orices occurs
over a signicantly broader range of cavitation numbers. Ramamurthi and Nandakumar (1999) showed that the orice diameter
and aspect ratio inuence cavitation inception in the orice; their
study highlighted that the discharge coefcient is a function of the
Reynolds number and aspect ratio in the attached ow regions.
Studies about cavitation in orices neglect the inuence of liquid
temperature on cavitation regimes. However, uid temperature
and thermal effects could be important in some cases, including
hot uid injection, cryogenic cavitation and cavitating ow in the
feeding system of a liquid rocket engine.
One study of thermal cavitation examined the external ow on
hydrofoils (Rapposelli et al., 2003).
Thermal effects occur because of the temperature difference between the two phases, liquid and vapor, due to the latent heat of

T
Tc
T1
u
uinlet
uout
 u=uinlet
u
V

r
q
q1
qv
l
x

temperature (K)
temperature inside the bubble (K)
temperature of liquid (K)
velocity (m/s)
velocity at the orice inlet (m/s)
velocity at the orice outlet (m/s)
non-dimensional velocity
Bernoulli velocity inside the orice (m/s)
cavitation number, (pinlet  pv)/(pinlet  pout)
density (kg/m3)
liquid density (kg/m3)
vapor density (kg/m3)
dynamic viscosity (Pa s)
x/l, where l is the nozzle length

the evaporation/condensation phenomena caused by the cavities

volume changes. The temperature gradient inuences the vapor
pressure in the cavities, i.e., their growth and collapse. Due to the
thermal effect, the vapor pressure is lower than that in the absence
of thermodynamic effects.
In the present work, attempts have also been made to extend
the knowledge on ow regime transitions due to cavitation in an
orice in the presence of thermosensible uids, i.e., hot water.
Few experimental works have been performed to investigate the
inuence of thermal effects on cavitation onset and development
in internal ows. However, some studies have been performed
on cryogenic cavitating orice ows (Hord et al., 1972; Niiyama
et al., 2010), focusing on estimating temperature depression and
its inuence on vapor pressure.
In this work, a detailed analysis was performed to identify the
characteristic frequencies in the ow due to cavitation development at different cavitating ow regimes and water temperatures
using visualization and pressure signal frequency spectra.
The rst part of the paper illustrates the experimental setup
used for the cavitation experiments, whose results are reported
in the second section, which describes the high-speed visualization
of the phenomenon, the vapor fraction analysis, the spectral analysis of the pixel intensities time series; in the third section, the
pressure signal analysis is described. High-speed digital photography provides signicant opportunities to observe and analyze the
cavitation phenomena. This paper presents a way to determine
the cavitation threshold using a spectral analysis of the time series
of individual or spatially averaged pixel intensities.
High-speed photography was used to estimate the morphology
and frequency spectrum associated with cavitation structures under different operating conditions. The relatively high spatial resolution of photography also enabled the detection of small-scale
phenomena associated with cavity formation.
The two types of spectral analysis (images and pressure signals)
were compared in their normalized intensities, showing good
agreement between them.

2. Experimental set-up
Previous studies on cavitating ow patterns in orices generally
neglect the effect of temperature on the ow regime transition in
cavitation. However, the thermal effects should be considered in
some cases, including hot uid injection, cryogenic cavitation,
and cavitating ow in the feeding system of a liquid rocket engine.

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Fig. 1. Experimental set-up.

Most results on cavitation in a sharp-edge orice have been published using cold water as a liquid oxygen simulant (Nurick et al.,
2008). The present study used water at several temperatures to extend the analysis to the thermal effects that should be considered
for thermo-sensible uids. The geometrical dimensions, ow rates
and pressures were chosen from a range of previous experimental
works (Nurick, 1976; Nurick et al., 2008). Experiments were performed at the facility at the Machines Laboratory of the University
of Salento (Italy), shown schematically in Fig. 1.
The test section was a sharp-edge orice in Plexiglas with an
internal diameter of 2.5 mm and a length-to-diameter ratio of L/
D = 3, placed in a duct with an internal diameter that gives a contraction ratio of 4.5. The water was pumped by a 1.10 kW centrifugal pump at 2900 rpm with ve impellers and a maximum ow
rate of 1.67  103 m3/s; the pump was located 1 m below the test
section to avoid cavitation in the pump.
Two Kistler 4045A piezoresistive pressure sensors were placed
up- and downstream of the test section and coupled to an NI4472 Dynamic Signal Acquisition Device for PCI (up to 102.4 ks/s
with two pole anti-alias lowpass lters for each input channel)
with an acquisition board through a Kistler type 4643 piezoresistive amplier and an accuracy 0.5%. The uncertainty in the pressure measurements was 0.003 MPa. The analog signals were
acquired at a sampling rate of 102,000 Hz for each channel.
The pressure signals were analyzed using a Labview-based routine. The routine calculated the fast Fourier transform FFT of the
pressure uctuations after subtracting the signal mean value. The
FFT, shown below, was calculated as an average of twenty FFTs,
each performed on a hanning windowed signal lasting 0.1 s.
A high-speed CCD camera (Kodak Motion Corder Analyzer
FASTCAM Super 10 k) acquired the high-speed images. For each
test, 300 images were acquired at a frame rate of 2000 Hz. The
images were digitally processed for the spectral analysis.
The mass ow rates, measured by a ow meter upstream of the
test section, and the pressure upstream of the test section were set
by two calibrated control valves. A valve was used to control the
ow rate by passing the water ow from the test section directly

to the inlet pump. The mass ow rate varied between 0.10 and
0.30 kg/s, and the upstream pressure was in the 28 bar range.
An electrical water heater heated and maintained the water at
the desired temperatures, under the control of a thermostat. The
temperature range varied between 293 K and 350 K.
Cavitation numbers have assumed different forms in the literature, mainly based on pressure drops across the orice (Bergwerk,
1959; Soteriou et al., 1995). The present work follows the approaches of Nurick (1976) and Stanley et al. (2011), dening the
cavitation number as follows:

pinlet  pv
;
pinlet  pout

using the pressure sensor measurements, with an uncertainty of

the order of 0.04 at a Reynolds number equal to 5  104.
The operating conditions are thus: at T = 293 K, Re is in the
range 38,800189,000 and r is in the range 4.111.34; at
T = 298 K, Re in the range 35,32094,540, and r in the range
3.951.41; at T = 308 K, Re in the range 63,020129,000, and r in
the range 2.791.36; at T = 313 K, Re in the range 294,000
628,000, and r in the range 2.791.43; at T = 323 K, Re in the range
70,902190,120, and r in the range 4.491.37; at T = 333 K, Re in
the range 75,015179,309, and r in the range 5.201.42; at
T = 343 K, Re in the range 74,200191,460, and r in the range
5.651.78; and at T = 350 K, Re in the range 129,557801,480,
and r in the range 3.51.65.
Different ow rates have been tested, varying the temperature
T, upstream pressure pinlet, pressure drop across the testing section
Dp, and cavitation number r.
3. Experimental results and discussion of high-speed
visualization
3.1. High-speed cavitation visualization
The cavitating ow pattern was analyzed using the images acquired by the high-speed camera.

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163

Fig. 2. Cavitation behavior for different cavitation numbers r at T = 293 K.

For each ow condition, two sets were acquired to obtain both a

visualization of the ow inside the restriction area of the sharpedged orice and an enlarged view of the downstream ow, using
optical objectives with different magnications. Two different
objectives were used to acquire the two types of images: one with
a focal length of 12 mm for the external view (enlarged downstream ow view) and one with a focal length of 25 mm for the
internal view (restriction area of the sharp-edged orice). The image magnication in the two spatial directions was estimated

with a calibration procedure using the actual dimensions of the

orice.
Fig. 2 shows the different cavitating ow patterns at several
cavitation numbers with a water temperature of 293 K. Lowering
the cavitation number changed the two-phase ow behaviors with
different cavitation regimes, from inception to developed cavitation, supercavitation and jet cavitation.
By setting the downstream pressure to the lowest value with
low upstream pressure at the orice inlet, the cavitation inception

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Fig. 3. Cavitation behavior in the restricted area of the sharp-edged orice for different uid temperatures and cavitation numbers r.

was characterized by a cavitation cloud limited to the inlet of the

orice, just downstream of the vena contracta (at r = 2.16).
By increasing the upstream pressure, the ow pattern moved to
the developed cavitation, where a rapid cavitation length increase
was evident. The cloud of vapor bubbles formed at the inlet section
of the orice tended to extend towards the end of the restricted
area in the orice, even when the cavities collapsed in the orice
restricted area without owing downstream from the throat area,
as occurred at r = 1.95.
With a further decrease in the r value, the general aspect of the
cavitation cloud inside the orice did not change, even when its
optical consistency increased, given by the white level related
to bubble density. This stage is called supercavitation.
At r = 1.79, some small cavitation clouds of a lament shape extended to the outlet of the orice; the ow carried the vapor bubbles outside the orice. In this condition, the extension of the
bubble lament outside the restricted area of the sharp-edged orice was small, showing persistence inside the ow before mixing.
A large recirculation area was observed at the orice outlet, before
mixing the cavitation cloud in the main ow.
Due to a further decrease in the cavitation number, an increasing
portion of the cavitation cloud was carried by the ow out of the restricted area of the orice. This is the next stage of the cavitation
phenomenon, related to the transition to jet cavitation. With the
additional decrease in the cavitation number, particularly for values
less than r = 1.49, a visible increase in the length of the vapor cloud
downstream from the orice (i.e., jet cavitation) was observed.
The comments previously introduced with reference to
T = 293 K can be applied to other temperature levels. The cavitating
phenomenon was clearly inuenced by the cavitation number, but
it was also inuenced by uid temperature.
Temperature variation had two different effects on the cavitating ow. At the same ambient pressure, the vapor pressure increased if the temperature increased, so the uid had a greater
aptitude to cavitate. However, at a high temperature, the temperature around the bubbles decreased due to the latent evaporation
heat; the vapor pressure thus decreased, delaying the growth of
the bubbles.
Fig. 3 compares the shape of the cavitation cloud at the temperatures T = 293 K and T = 350 K for similar cavitation numbers. As

the temperature increased, the cavitation number that characterized the transitions between different cavitation behaviors also increased. Moreover, the white level of the cavitation cloud at the
same r value was higher for T = 350 K than for T = 293 K, and the
recirculation area, visible at the outlet of the orice section, tended
to move further downstream with the temperature increase.
To better understand the phenomena, the vapor fraction of several tests was estimated using an image processing technique. The
vapor fraction was determined by digitizing the acquired images
and calculating each grayscale pixel value when the orice was
empty and when cavitation occurred; the difference between these
two values was converted to the [0, 1] scale of the vapor fraction. As
Fig. 4 shows, the average vapor fraction increased when the temperature increased: it was 0.21 at 293 K and 0.34 at 348 K. For cavitation length, an increase of the cavity extension was evident if the
temperature increased from 293 K to 323 K; at 348 K, the growth of
the cavity length inside the orice was suppressed because of the
thermodynamic effects that are signicant at high temperatures.
Fig. 5 depicts a ow pattern map as a function of the cavitation
number and water temperature. As observed above, the cavitation
behavior in an orice depends on the cavitation number and ow
temperature. When the static pressure inside the orice decreased,
cavitation occurred to a limited extent. A further reduction in the
cavitation number led to the formation of a wider vapor bubble
cloud, though the cavitation volume did not extend to the orice
outlet. When a more signicant cavitation number reduction occurred, a visible increase in the length of the cloud inside the restricted area could be observed (supercavitation). Finally, a
further decrease of the cavitation number led to jet cavitation.
Both cavitation number and temperature inuence cavitation.
By increasing the temperature in the 293333 K range, the incipient cavitation appeared at a higher cavitation number; a further increase, to 348 K, caused a decrease in the cavitation number at
which cavitation starts. The transition to a supercavitation regime
is more affected by temperature; the thermodynamic effects
became more evident as the cavitation number decreased. Previous
studies (Niiyama et al., 2010) found that there is a greater
temperature depression if the cavitation number decreases. The
thermodynamic effects affect cavity growth differently based on
operating pressures and temperature.

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165

Fig. 4. Vapor fraction inside the restricted area of the orice at different temperatures.

The non-dimensional temperature difference is given by the ratio between DT and the real temperature difference DT, dened as
the B-factor:

DT
:
DT 

Assuming the cavitating region is a two-phase mixture of void

fraction a, the following equation expresses the B-factor for an
ideal gasliquid mixture:

B
Fig. 5. Cavitation behavior vs cavitation number and uid temperature.

a
1a

The real temperature difference of a gasliquid mixture ow

with latent heat absorption can be estimated thus:
For a better understanding of the inuence of temperature on
cavitation, the temperature depression in the cavitation region
should be estimated.
According to Stepanoff (1964), the ideal temperature depression by heat absorption can be dened thus:

q Lev
DT  v ;
ql C Pl

where Lev is the evaporation latent heat; qv and ql are the vapor and
liquid densities, respectively; and Cpl is the specic heat at a constant pressure of liquid.

DT

a qv Lev
:
1  a ql C Pl

At the same operating conditions, the temperature depression

increases as the vapor fraction increases (i.e., at lower cavitation
numbers and more cavitating regimes). For instance, at T = 343 K,
if the vapor fraction is 0.9, the DT is 0.64 K, and if the vapor fraction
is 0.5, DT is 0.07 K. At the same vapor fraction, a = 0.8, the temperature depressions are 0.04 K and 0.28 K at inlet water temperatures
set to 293 K and 343 K, respectively.

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3.2. Spectral analysis of the pixel intensities time series

Computer-aided visualization can also offer real-time evaluations of the topological cavitation structures.
The images captured by the CCD camera are digitized, and the
level of gray intensity in space forms scalar patterns. Time series
of individual pixel intensities give high frequency noise. An effective means of ltering the time series is spatial averaging.
To assess the quantitative behavior of the cavitation patterns,
the average light intensities A(t) in the four regions in the restricted
area and in the exit orice region were calculated at time t, which
is the time when the image was captured. A(t) was calculated for
each cavitation number. The top of Fig. 6 shows the sample regions: regions 1, 2, 3 and 4 are inside the restricted area (orice
throat), and region 5 is the exit orice area.
In Fig. 6, the time series for the images are depicted at r = 1.40
and T = 333 K; the average light intensity changes in accordance
with the cavitation structures, and the oscillating behavior of the
vapor cavity is particularly evident.

In Fig. 7, the FFT amplitudes of time series of the average light

intensity in the different regions were calculated at different cavitation numbers and at T = 333 K. The FFT amplitude content at low
frequencies increased signicantly with decreases in the cavitation
number for all regions inside the restricted area. At the inlet of the
restricted area (regions 1 and 2), the dominant frequency components were between 150 and 300 Hz. At high cavitation numbers,
cavitation occupied the inlet of the orice, and unsteady shedding
behavior was present in the vapor structures. This agrees with the
results of Sato and Saito (2002), who measured the frequency of
cavitation shedding at 250 Hz.
The FFT amplitude spectrum related to the pixel intensities at
the end of the restricted area (region 4) showed a peak at 70 Hz.
By examining the FFT amplitude spectrum of the time series
with average light intensity in the exit area at a uid temperature
of 333 K (Fig. 7), it is possible to identify at least three different frequency components: one in the 060 Hz range, the second in the
200300 Hz range and the last in the 750900 Hz range.
At high temperatures, the spectrum around the lowest frequency has more peaks. In particular, at cavitation number r corresponding to a supercavitation regime and underdeveloped jetcavitation, the peak in the spectrum in the frequency range 200
300 Hz is clearly visible and narrow; further decreases in the cavitation number r leads to jet cavitation. In this regime, the FFT
spectrum shows an increase in FFT amplitude at low frequencies,
related to the unsteadiness of macroscopic cavitating structures.

4. Experimental study of the cavitation behavior using pressure

signal analysis

Fig. 6. Time series of the average image brightness of the different regions in the
restricted area. (A = region 1, B = region 2, C = region 3, D = region 4) and outside the
restricted area (E = region 5), at the cavitation number r = 1.40 and T = 333 K.

This section examines the inuence of cavity morphology on

the fast Fourier transform (FFT) amplitude of the pressure signals.
The maximum frequencies that could be detected are half of the
sample rate, e.g., approximately 55,000 Hz. It is thus possible to extend the previous spectral analysis to high-frequency content.
As Chandra and Collicott, 1999 also found, spectral analysis
individuates low dominant frequencies (02000 Hz) correlated
generally to the macro-structure motion and the unsteadiness of
macroscopic cavitating structures at low cavitation numbers, and
high dominant frequencies (close to 10 kHz), which are related to
the individual bubble collapse and smaller-scale bubble shedding
processes at high cavitation numbers (incipient cavitation).
Table 1 reports the frequency related to the macro-structure
motion V/Lcav, where V is the Bernoulli velocity inside the orice
and Lcav is the mean experimental cavity length after digitally processing the high-speed visualization.
This table gives a rough estimation of the characteristic range of
the frequencies related to cavity motion at different cavitation
numbers, highlighting the frequency increase with an increase in
uid temperature due to smaller cavitating structures at high temperatures (i.e., in the presence of thermal effect).
The formation and collapse of cavity bubbles generated measurable pressure uctuations. The pressure signals were measured upstream and downstream of the orice; the collected signals were
processed, as described above, to calculate the frequency content.
An examination of the amplitude of the FFT frequency spectrum
demonstrates the presence of different dominant frequencies in
the 010,000 Hz range. The increasing cavitation intensity shows
that the highest deviation in the spectra is much more evident at
low frequencies, while weaker peaks are present at high frequencies. A study of the amplitude signal variation coupled with the image analysis allows for the unique identication of the threshold
value of the two-phase ow regime.
An analysis of the amplitude spectrum of the down- and upstream pressure signals, as in Figs. 9 and 10, indicates that at high

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167

Fig. 7. FFT amplitude spectrum of the time series of the average brightness in different regions of the restricted area (regions 1, 2, 3, and 4) at T = 333.15 K and in the exit area
(region 5) at T = 293.15 K and at T = 333.15 K.

Table 1
Frequencies related to cavity motion as a function of the cavitation number based on
visual observations.
T = 293 K

r
V/Lcav (Hz)

2.235
12904

2.03
2903

1.84
2880

1.77
2843

1.63
2331

1.50
1921

1.44
1521

2.14
12588

2.06
11811

1.95
7239

1.94
7031

1.88
3353

1.82
2927

1.76
1826

T = 348 K

r
V/Lcav (Hz)

cavitation numbers (incipient cavitation), the FFT amplitude of the

upstream pressure was higher than the downstream one. At high
cavitation numbers, it is particularly interesting to observe the upstream pressure signal, which is closer to the cavitation zone. As
shown in previous work (Sato and Saito, 2002), the unsteady shedding behavior of cavities is present when the cavity is limited to
the orice inlet.
Fig. 8a shows that at cavitation inception (r = 2.159 and
T = 333 K), an increase in the FFT amplitude of the upstream signal
is most evident, especially in the high-frequency range (8000
10,000 Hz), due to the growth and collapse of small cavities. Cavitation inception is also detected by the downstream pressure signal, which shows an increase in the peak at low frequencies near
70 Hz.

Regarding further reduction in cavitation numbers, the spectra

of the upstream signals show no evident peaks, and there is an increase in the FFT amplitude of the downstream signals in the 0
2000 Hz frequency range, which is due to an increase in vapor cavity volumes and collapse time.
When increasing the temperature at the same cavitation number, the characteristic frequency range is wider than at lower temperatures and the peaks move to higher frequencies, as shown in
Fig. 8b. This is due to smaller bubble radii at high temperatures.
A focus on developed cavitation (e.g., r = 2.14) reveals that the
characteristic frequency of the upstream pressure increases from
1500 to 7000 Hz if the temperature increases from 293 K to
348 K. These frequencies correspond to Strouhal numbers, given
by (f  Lcav/V), which are based on the mean cavity length and throat
velocity. These number values are 0.37 at T = 293 K and 0.47 at
T = 348 K, and the range of these values is in good agreement with
previous studies (Sato and Saito, 2002; Stanley et al., 2011).
This trend is also observed by comparing the characteristic frequencies of the downstream pressure at different cavitation numbers, ranging up to jet cavitation, at T = 293 K and T = 348 K, as in
Fig. 9.
When focusing on the spectra of the downstream pressures in
the low-frequency range (02000 Hz) corresponding to a region
with a high FFT amplitude, the main frequency component can
be located in the 7090 Hz range, as in Fig. 10.

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Fig. 8. Amplitude spectrum of the upstream (black) and downstream (red) pressure uctuations measured: (a) at T = 333 K and at different cavitation numbers; (b) at several
temperatures and r = 1.65 (logarithmic scale on each of the axes). (For interpretation of the references to color in this gure legend, the reader is referred to the web version
of this article.)

Fig. 9. Amplitude and frequency of the peaks of the FFT of the downstream pressure at different cavitation numbers r and temperatures.

When lowering the cavitation number, the FFT amplitude of the

pressure signal increases slowly. At cavitation inception, however,
a sharp increase in amplitude is evident in the rst peak frequency.

The visual observations reveal that a further cavitation number

reduction brings a signicant increase in the cavitating volume
(developing cavitation). This cavitation behavior is characterized

M.G. De Giorgi et al. / International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow 39 (2013) 160172

169

Fig. 10. Amplitude spectrum of the downstream pressure uctuations measured at several temperatures for 02000 Hz frequency range.

by a noticeable increase in the amplitude of the frequency

spectrum.
As the cavitation volume extends to the orice outlet (supercavitation), some reduction in the frequency amplitudes can be noticed, followed by a new increase.
Analyzing the plots at a given temperature, e.g., 308 K (Fig. 10),
for the aforementioned r values leads to two important
observations.
The rst frequency component (about f = 70 Hz) at r = 2.04
shows an amplitude that is at least twice that of the same component at r = 2.16; moreover, at least other two components, at
nearly f = 240 Hz and f = 890 Hz, can be identied at low cavitation
numbers.
Though the spectrum around the highest aforementioned frequency (nearly 890 Hz) does not appear particularly peaked, being
instead smoothed, the peak in the spectrum near the other component (f = 240 Hz) is clearly visible and narrow.
The fourth stage of the cavitation phenomenon (jet cavitation),
which is evident as the smallest cavitation numbers are achieved,
can be directly related to an evident increase in the amplitude of
the low-frequency peak. The change in the frequency spectrum
of the downstream pressure signal exhibits different behavior at

the lower and higher borders of the frequency spectrum. The frequency values corresponding to peaks in the lower border of the
spectrum do not vary signicantly; however, a variation in peak
frequencies can be observed in the high-frequency zone, even
when the amplitude is lower than that for the peaks in the low-frequency range, as in Fig. 9.

5. Comparing the FFT of images and pressure signals

Several example photographs are shown in this paper. The FFT
amplitude spectra of the downstream pressure uctuations agree
with the FFT amplitude spectra of the time series of the images
with average light intensity in different regions of the orice. This
justies that the characteristic frequencies, estimated by processing the pressure signals, are related to the appearance of the different cavitating structures.
The comparison for cavitation number r = 1.8 and T = 293 K, as
in Fig. 11, shows that the FFT amplitude spectrum of the downstream pressure uctuations gives all the characteristic frequencies that are individually present in the FFT amplitude spectrum

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M.G. De Giorgi et al. / International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow 39 (2013) 160172

Fig. 11. Comparison between FFT of the average image brightness and FFT of the
pressure uctuations at T = 293 K and cavitation number r = 1.8.

of the time series of the images with average light intensity in different regions inside the orice.
For a more detailed comparison, FFTs from the frequency spectra of both visualization and pressure data for all points were integrated to obtain the signal intensity:

fX
max

FFT  Df ;

Here, Df is the frequency step dened by the FFT.

Fig. 12 depicts comparisons among the normalized intensities
of the downstream pressure and visualization signals (one for each
of the ve regions in Fig. 6) at the temperatures of 293, 323 and
348 K. In addition to the single points of each traced series, the best
polynomial t of order 3 is also drawn.
The tting curves conrm good agreement between the two
types of FFT amplitude spectra. A similar trend is that of the downstream pressure and visualization signal in the exit area (region 5),
with an increase in the normalized intensity when the cavitation
number decreases; an analogous pattern occurs in the single regions of the restricted area (regions 14), but we can see a faster
increment of the normalized intensity at cavitation inception.
5.1. Analyzing the thermal effects
To verify the cases effectively inuenced by a thermal exchange,
the thermal effects must be estimated. In several uids, cavitation
development occurs with signicant thermal effects. This phenomenon is characterized by a temperature drop inside two-phase regions, due to the latent heat of vaporization.
The analysis of the thermal effects was performed by analyzing
bubble growth using the Rayleigh equation and evaluating the
thermal time (De Giorgi et al., 2010; Franc and Pellone, 2007).
First, the characteristic temperature drop DT was calculated, as
dened in Eq. (2) (i.e., the temperature drop to be applied to a unit
volume of liquid to supply the latent heat required to vaporize a
unit volume of vapor was determined). Experiments show that this
parameter is a relevant order of magnitude of the temperature
drop in cavitating ows.

Fig. 12. Normalized intensity for pressure and visualization signals at several
temperatures (scatter plot and polynomial tting curves of order 3).

Using the slope dpv/dT of the vapor pressure curve, the characteristic pressure difference was determined from the previous
characteristic temperature difference DT:

Dpv

dpv
DT  :
dT

This value represents the drop in vapor pressure associated

with the drop in temperature DT. Because DT is a relevant order
of magnitude of the temperature drop, Dpv can be considered a relevant order of magnitude of the pressure drop inside the cavities.
The magnitude of thermal effects depends on a factor identiable in the Rayleigh equation for the bubble growth. When the heat
transfer from the liquid bulk to the liquid/vapor interface becomes
relevant, the equation has the following non-dimensional form (De
Giorgi et al., 2010):
2
 3 dRb
d Rb 1 du
Rb

 dx 2 dx
u
dx2

!2

pb T c  pb T 1 r cp

;
2
qu2 u 2s
2u

where the rst term on the right can be considered the thermal
term, giving the following relationship:

pb T c  pb T 1
dp q L 1 dRb
 v v
:
s h u
 dx
qu 2 u 2s
dT ql u

M.G. De Giorgi et al. / International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow 39 (2013) 160172

Fig. 13. Transit time/thermal time at the several uid temperatures.

 s 1 (the starting nonBy using Eqs. (2) and (7) and assuming u
dimensional velocity), the following factor can be identied in Eq.
(9):

1 Dpv 1

h cpl u
This factor inuences the magnitude of the thermal effects.
This factor can be viewed as a ratio between two terms, 1u and
hcpl
,
which become the transit and thermal times by multiplying
Dpv
them by l (orice length) and d (orice diameter), respectively.
If the thermal time is much longer than the transit time, the
thermal effects are negligible; conversely, if the thermal time is
much shorter than the transit time, the thermal effects are predominant. A suitable criterion for estimating the magnitude of
thermal effects is based on comparing these characteristic times.
Calculating the convective heat transfer coefcient h is performed using the Nusselt number:

Nu

hd
;
kl

where d is the hydraulic diameter and kl is the thermal conductivity

of the liquid.
Ivashnev and Smirnov (2004) determined the value of Nu:

Nu 2

 1=3
6Ja

12Ja

10

where the Jacob number Ja is calculated as follows:

Ja

T1  Ts
;
DT 

11

where Ts is the saturation temperature.

The difference T1  Ts has been estimated by evaluating the
corresponding pressure drop Dps which is approximated as 2S/Rb,
where S is the surface tension and Rb is the bubble radium (considered equal to 0.0001 m).
Fig. 13 depicts the ratio between the transit and thermal times
at several tested temperatures. At the lower temperatures, the ratio is negligible (and the thermal effects are thus negligible), while
the ratio becomes more relevant when temperature increases,
denoting a signicant role for thermal effects.
These assertions are in good agreement with the experimental
results from the high-speed visualization and spectral analysis described above, showing a delay in the cavitation development at
temperatures over 333 K.
6. Conclusions
In some cases, including hot uid injection or cryogenic cavitation, thermal effects in cavitation development could be important.

171

To obtain a fundamental understanding of the characteristics of

the cavitation phenomena in internal ows under different uid
temperatures, an experimental study of a two-phase ow of water
inside an orice nozzle was performed. Different ow rates were
tested at different temperatures and upstream pressures. The
length and behavior of the cavitation volume were analyzed using
visual observation and imaging spectral analysis.
Visual observations showed that the cavitation originated at the
inlet of the ow constriction area. It grew intensively and transformed into a cavitating cloud. As the ow rate increased and the
pressure drop inside the orice increased, the cavitating cloud extended downstream of the orice oscillating around the exit position, shown by the frequency spectrum of the image temporal data.
This work presents the development of an effective tool, based on
optical processing of high-speed photography, for the quantitative
analysis and diagnostics of cavitation in an orice.
Using image analysis and frequency calculations, different ow
behaviors could be identied for varying pressures inside the orice. Each behavior corresponded to a characteristic visible aspect
of the cavitation volume. Cavitation behavior was inuenced both
by the cavitation number and temperature. By increasing the temperature to the 293333 K range, the incipient cavitation appeared
at higher cavitation numbers; a further increase to 348 K caused a
decrease in the cavitation number at which cavitation starts. The
transition to the supercavitation regime was more affected by temperature; the thermodynamic effects became more evident when
the cavitation number was smaller. Moreover, the vapor fraction
for several tests was estimated using an image processing technique. As expected, the amount of vapor increased as the cavitation
number decreased, but there was a small increase in the vapor
fraction when the temperature increased to 333 K at the same cavitation number, while there was a small decrease in the vapor fraction when the temperature increased to 348 K.
Computer-aided visualizations were used for a real-time evaluation of the topological cavitation structures. The FFT amplitude of
the time series of the average light intensities in different regions
of the restricted and exit areas were calculated at different cavitation numbers.
The FFT of the image time series shows that the FFT amplitude
content at low frequencies increases signicantly as the cavitation
number decreases for all regions inside the restricted area. At the
inlet of the restricted area (regions 1 and 2), dominant frequency
components are in the 150300 Hz range. At high cavitation numbers, cavitation occupies the inlet of the orice, and unsteady shedding behavior is present in the vapor structures. These values are
similar to data from previous studies: Sato and Saito (2002) measured the frequency of cavitation shedding of the order of 250 Hz.
In the exit area, it is possible to identify at least three different
frequency components: one in the 060 Hz range, the second in
the 200300 Hz range and the last in the 750900 Hz range.
At high temperatures, the spectrum around the lowest frequency is more peaked. At higher cavitation numbers, corresponding to a supercavitation regime and underdeveloped jet cavitation,
the peak in the spectrum at frequencies in the 200300 Hz range is
clearly visible and narrow; further decreases in the cavitation
number r lead to jet cavitation. In this regime, the FFT spectrum
shows an increase in FFT amplitude at low frequencies, related to
the unsteadiness of macroscopic cavitating structures.
Frequency content given by the pressure uctuations was also
analyzed and compared to the frequency spectra obtained using visual observations. Cavitation development inside the orice is related to a corresponding signicant increase in the amplitude of
some typical frequency components.
At incipient cavitation, the FFT amplitude of the upstream pressure is higher than the downstream one. At high cavitation numbers, it is particularly interesting to observe the upstream

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M.G. De Giorgi et al. / International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow 39 (2013) 160172

pressure signal, closer to the cavitation zone. At cavitation inception, the increase in the FFT amplitude of the upstream signal is
most evident, especially in the high-frequency range (8000
10,000 Hz), due to the growth and collapse of small cavities. Cavitation inception is also detected by the downstream signal, which
shows a peak increase at low frequencies near 70 Hz.
The transition to jet cavitation is characterized by a signicant
increase in FFT amplitude in the low-frequency range. For further
cavitation number reductions, the spectra of the upstream signal
show no evident peaks, and there is an increase in the FFT amplitude of the downstream signals in the 02000 Hz frequency range.
This is due to an increase in vapor cavity volume and collapse time.
Considering the frequency spectrum of the downstream pressure signal in the low frequency range, the dominant frequencies
are in good agreement with those for the FFT amplitude spectrum
of the image pixel intensities time series. The method proposed for
data analysis leads to a better evaluation of local behavior of steady
and unsteady cavitation.
Using image and frequency analyses, different ow behaviors
can be identied for varying pressures inside the orice. Each
behavior corresponds to a characteristic visible aspect of cavitation
volume.
To verify the cases effectively inuenced by thermal exchange, a
theoretical analysis was conducted to estimate the temperature
difference of gasliquid mixture ows using latent heat absorption,
based on the estimated experimental vapor fraction.
From the bubble growth theory, another suitable criterion for
estimating the magnitude of thermal effects was then based on
comparing the characteristic thermal and transit times. If the thermal time was much larger than the transit time, then the thermal
effects were negligible; conversely, if the thermal time was much
smaller than the transit time, then thermal effects were
predominant.
The ratio between the transit and thermal times was evaluated
at several tested temperatures. The ratio was negligible at lower
temperatures (and therefore the thermal effects were negligible),
while it became more relevant when the temperature increased
past 333 K, denoting a signicant role for thermal effects.
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