Abstract:
Hydrodynamic cavitation is an emerging and efficient advanced oxidation technology widely used in industrial wastewater treatment, energy conversion, and environmental protection, offering advantages such as low cost, high energy efficiency, and simple operation. Based on an existing coaxial counter-rotating hydrodynamic cavitation reactor, this study proposes three curved rotors with different blade curvatures. Numerical simulations were conducted using Fluent software to compare parameters including cavitation rate, vapor fraction, pressure, and turbulent kinetic energy, aiming to investigate the effects of blade curvature and rotational speed on the reactor's cavitation performance. The results show that both blade curvature and rotational speed jointly influence cavitation performance. At 2400 r/min, the 60° blade produced the strongest yet localized cavitation, with a vapor volume of 331,564.1 mm
3, while the 90° blade exhibited balanced performance and the 120° blade the weakest. At 3000 r/min, the 120° blade achieved the maximum vapor volume, and the performance of the 60° and 90° blades also improved. At 4200 r/min, the performance of the 60° and 120° blades declined due to flow instability, whereas the 90° blade, benefiting from its optimized flow-passage design, showed continued performance enhancement and the best stability. This study innovatively designs a counter-rotating dual-rotor cavitation reactor, where reverse rotation overcomes the cavitation unevenness inherent in single-rotor structures and enables full-domain intensification.