LES-VOF SIMULATIONS OF A PURE WATER JET DEVELOPING INSIDE AN AWJC NOZZLE: PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS AND GUIDELINES

In this work, a numerical approach to predict the behavior of a pure water jet developing inside
a nozzle for Abrasive Water Jet Cutting (AWJC) is investigated.
In a standard AWJC configuration, the water jet carries the major energy content of the entire
system, and is responsible for accelerating abrasive particles that will perform the cutting action
of hard materials. Therefore an accurate simulation of a pure water jet can bring significant
insight on the overall AWJC process. Capturing the behavior of a multiphase high-speed flow
in a complex geometry is however particularly challenging.
In this work, we adopt a combined approach based on the Volume of Fluid (VOF) and Large
Eddy Simulation (LES) techniques in order to respectively capture the water/air interface and
to model turbulent structures of the flow. The aim of this contribution is to investigate how the
two techniques apply to the specific problem, and to offer general guidelines for practitioners
willing to adopt them. Costs considerations will be then presented with particular reference to
the usage of the OpenFOAM® environment. The reported results are meant to provide guidance
for AWJ applications and future developments of AWJ nozzles.