Three-Dimensional CFD Simulation of Two-Phase Flow Inside the Abrasive Water Jet Cutting Head

A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation of the formation and discharge process of an air-water flow in an abrasive waterjet (AWJ) head is presented. Numerical simulations were conducted using the commercial code Fluent (R) 6.3 by Ansys. Dynamic characteristics of the flow inside the AWJ head and downstream from the nozzle are simulated under steady state, turbulent, two-phase flowconditions. To establish their physical consistency, simulation results are compared with the model of Yanaida and Ohashi [1, 2]. The final aim is to gain fundamental knowledge of the ultra-high velocity flow dynamic features that could affect the quality of the jet, such as the velocity and pressure distributions in different parts of the AWJ head and at the outlet.