Cavitation is a physical phenomenon where, due to local pressure drop, bubbles appear, while the temperature of the medium remains approximately unchanged. In most cases the effects of cavitation are undesirable, which are reflected as noise, vibration, erosion, pressure losses, heat losses. Within this project the pressure vessel was made in which we could adjust any pressure. The pressure was adjusted by increasing the pressure in the container with the help of compressor and then the desire pressure conditions were adjusted with the control valve. Inside the pressure vessel was a small container fillled with liquid nitrogen or with hot and cold water. Cavitation was generated with ultrasonic probe on which we placed sample of aluminium. After every 12 second the sample was taken out of the container. Then we took a photos of the surface. The images were used for further analysis where we observed damage to the sample caused by cavitation erosion. For the image processing we used Inkscape and Matlab software. With the obtained results we could compare the aggressiveness of cavitation in cold, hot water and in liquid nitrogen.
|