Multimodal sensing of erosive cavitation phenomena

In this paper, we present a novel approach for the sensing of erosive cavitation phenomena in underwater facilities. Cavitation phenomena are known for their destructive capacity of underwater structures and are caused by the pressure decreasing followed by an implosion when the cavitation bubbles find an adverse pressure gradient. Conventional cavitation detection techniques are based on passive devices (pressure sensors or accelerometers) that just allows detection the cavitation but without assessing its erosive action. In order to go beyond these techniques that will remove this drawback, an alternative can be represented by the active techniques. Emissions of wide band signals in the flow during the apparition and development of cavitation embeds changes in the received signals. Signal processing methods, namely the Recurrence Quantification Analysis, are used to develop a robust metric that will estimate the effects of erosion.