Dynamics of cavitational bubbles and design of a hydrodynamic cavitational reactor: cluster approach

In the present work, a cavity cluster of predetermined size has been considered to study the bubble dynamics in the hydrodynamic cavitation reactor. The effect of different operating and system parameters on the cavitational intensity has been numerically investigated. The yield of any cavitationally induced physical/chemical transformations depends not only on the collapse pressure of the cavities but also on the active volume of cavitation within the reactor. Empirical correlations have been developed to predict the collapse pressure and the active volume of cavitation as a function of different operating parameters based on the bubble dynamics studies. Recommendations are made for designing a cavitational reactor on the basis of the proposed empirical correlations. This work is a first step towards the designing and optimization of hydrodynamic cavitational reactor with cluster approach. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.