A thermal based model for cavitation in saturated liquids

Cavitation phenomena normally occur in applications at ambient temperature (10 - 30degrees C) in which very low static pressures exist, e.g. on the suction side of a hydro-turbine blade. In water slightly below the saturation temperature (99degrees C), cavitation phenomena might occur in regions at remarkable high static pressure. A cavitation model based on the calculation of thermal transport processes for the modelling of phase change phenomena is discussed. The model describes the inter-phase mass and heat transfer of steam and water in dependence of the local static pressure and temperature.