Numerical Prediction and Experimental Investigation of Cavitation Erosion of Hydraulic Components Using HFC

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Abstract

Hydraulic devices play an essential role in mechanical engineering due to their high-power density, good controllability,
flexible application and high robustness, which expose innovative methods of energy transmission. However, in applications where
there is an increased risk of fire or explosion, the commonly used combustible mineral oils represent an unacceptable safety hazard.
In such cases, fire-resistant, water-based hydraulic fluids are in demand. A special feature of these liquids is their high cavitation
tendency and the associated strong erosion wear. The aim of this research is to predict the cavitation behaviour of HFC and the
subsequent erosion phenomena using numerical methods and to validate the results with experiments. Additionally, experimental
results for HFC were compared with flammable mineral oils (e.g. HLP). The findings help to implement further developments to
decrease the erosive effect of cavitation in high-pressure differences in hydraulic components. For this purpose, flow geometries of
typical hydraulic components, e.g. valve and pump, are used for experimental and numerical investigation. The large-eddy simulation
(LES) turbulent modelling is used with Zwart-Gerber cavitation model. The cavitation aggressiveness is quantified by cavitation
erosion indices according to Nohm

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)129
Number of pages139
JournalJournal of mechanics engineering and automation
Volume2020
Issue number10
Publication statusPublished - 2020
Peer-reviewedYes

Keywords

Keywords

  • HFC, cavitation, Erosion, CFD, experiment