This animation sequence depicts a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation of natural (partial) cavitating flow over a cylindrical body. Shown in transparent blue is a cavitation bubble shape (associated with a multiphase isosurface that is 90 percent liquid and 10 percent vapor). Selected flowlines (particle path lines) are shown in red. The still-to-be-fully-validated CFD model successfully simulates a recirculating flow zone aft of the bubble in which free flowlines reverse direction and jet toward the body and against the general flowstream. This kind of unsteady flow is responsible for the variation in the cavity shape. This modeling work, which was carried out by researchers at the Penn State Applied Research Laboratory, was calculated on 76 Cray T3E processors.

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