Welcome to the cavitation and bubbly flow group!

quad vortex
Internal flow visualization
ventilated supercavity in unsteady flow
gas jet supercavity during unstable state
Hologram movie of bubbly flow
supercavity control using control surfaces
two branch cavity
Cavitation occurs in a variety of hydrodynamic applications. These applications include, but are not limited to, hydraulic pumps and motors, hydrofoils, propellors and spillways. For many applications, cavitation has negative effects. Many manufacturers take great efforts to reduce or eliminate cavitation. Cavitation can alter the performance of a hydraulic system (reduction in lift and increase in drag for a hydrofoil, decrease in turbomachinery efficiency, reduced capacity to evacuate water in spillways, unwanted noise, etc.). However, cavitation has been advantageously employed in certain other applications, such as the homogenization of milk, cleaning of surfaces by cavitating jets and drag reduction by means of supercavitation. Our group focuses on the investigation of fundamental flow physics involved in cavitation phenomenon and bubbly flows through novel flow imaging and measurement techniques. 

Contact

Email: [email protected]
Office Phone: 612-626-4562
Offices: ME 233 & SAFL 381
Labs: SAFL water tunnel

Recent News

5/2018: Researchers from Beijing Institute of Science and Technology, Zhejiang University and Norway visited water tunnel lab.

12/2017: Our paper on gas jet supercavitation is selected as the Editor's Pick in Physics of Fluids!

10/2017: Shijie Qin joined group as a visiting PhD student.