Fast X-ray imaging of two-phase flows: Application to cavitating flows

A promising method based on fast X-ray imaging has been developed to investigate the dynamics and the structure of complex two-phase flows. It has been applied in this work on cavitating flows created inside a Venturi-type test section and helped therefore to better understand flows inside cavitation pockets. Seeding particles were injected into the flow to trace the liquid phase. Thanks to the characteristics of the beam provided by the APS synchrotron (Advance Photon Source, USA), high definition X-ray images of the flow containing simultaneously information for both liquid and vapour were obtained. Velocity fields of both phases were thus calculated using image cross-correlation algorithms. Local volume fractions of vapour have also been obtained using local intensities of the images. Beforehand however, image processing is required to separate phases for velocity measurements. Validation methods of all applied treatments were developed, they allowed to characterise the measurement accuracy. This experimental technique helped us to have more insight into the dynamic of cavitating flows and especially demonstrates the presence of significant slip velocities between phases. (author)