Numerical study on parameter selection for steam extraction of rotational supercavitating evaporator

Abstract

With the application of supercavitation effect, a novel device named rotational supercavitating evaporator (RSCE) has been designed for seawater desalination. In order to study the effect of steam extraction on hydrodynamic characteristics of RSCE and then determine the steam extraction rate, numerical simulations are carried out on the supercavitating flows in RSCE at a constant rotational speed and at different steam extraction rates. The results show that steam extraction rate linearly increases with the decrease of extraction pressure and that the area and volume of the supercavity could be significantly affected by steam extration, as compared with the case without steam extration.However, both of them vary slightly with the increase of steam extraction rate in the process of steam extraction.