Numerical study of cavitation in liquid lead-bismuth eutectic

Cavitation can occur in a low pressure region of a pump, valve or piping system. In this master thesis cavitation is studied in lead-bismuth eutectic, a metal coolant used in fourth generation nuclear power plants. Cavitation is studied in experiments by oscillating a specimen at a high frequency, creating a low pressure region below the saturation pressure of the fluid, initiating evaporation. This type of experiment is recreated in the simulations using computational fluid dynamics. The difference between water and lead-bismuth eutectic was studied, together with the effect of the operating pressure. The results aligned with data from literature. An explanation for the phenomenon in lead-bismuth eutectic was successfully given.