Influence of Air Injection on Cavitation in a Convergent–Divergent Nozzle

The present numerical analysis deals with cavitation with and without air injection in a convergent–divergent (CD) nozzle. Numerical analysis covers for three primary stages of cavitation, such as cavitation inception, sheet cavitation and cloud cavitation. These cavitation stages are further described by injecting air bubbles in the convergent side. Results, based on vapour fraction and turbulent kinetic energy, are explored at different stages of cavitation. It is found that cavitation phenomena increase significantly with air injection at upstream of CD nozzle. This method of air injection can be a potential method of manipulating the cavitating bubble cluster particularly increasing the cavity dynamics.