Title: Numerical simulation of multiphase flow field in abrasive waterjet machining

Authors: Rongguo Hou; Chuanzhen Huang; Hongtao Zhu

Addresses: Key Laboratory of High-efficiency and Clean Mechanical Manufacture, Ministry of Education, Center for Advanced Jet Engineering Technologies (CaJET), School of Mechanical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, 250061, China ' Key Laboratory of High-efficiency and Clean Mechanical Manufacture, Ministry of Education, Center for Advanced Jet Engineering Technologies (CaJET), School of Mechanical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, 250061, China ' Key Laboratory of High-efficiency and Clean Mechanical Manufacture, Ministry of Education, Center for Advanced Jet Engineering Technologies (CaJET), School of Mechanical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, 250061, China

Abstract: Simulation of the velocity field of solid-liquid flow inside and outside the abrasive waterjet (AWJ) nozzle is studied by computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The flow field of the flow inside and outside the AWJ nozzle is obtained. The simulation results indicate that there is a sudden increase in the jet velocity near the corner inside the nozzle, and then it remains steady in the focus tube. When AWJ ejects from nozzle, the diffusion happens and the velocity of the flow is slowly decaying. The simulation results also indicate that AWJ flow field is affected by the impact angle on the target. The higher impact angle becomes, the more obvious effect on the flow field is. The simulation results show that there are a large eddy and negative pressure zone in the flow field when AWJ impacts on the wall, and which will help to entrainment removal of the material.

Keywords: velocity field; abrasive waterjet machining; AWJ machining; pressure distribution; two-phase flow; Eulerian multiphase modelling; numerical simulation; multiphase flow; computational fluid dynamics; CFD; impact angle.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAT.2013.053166

International Journal of Abrasive Technology, 2013 Vol.6 No.1, pp.40 - 57

Received: 27 Nov 2012
Accepted: 28 Nov 2012
Published online: 05 Jul 2014 *

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