A general formulation for cavitating, boiling and evaporating flows

•A flow model, valid for both cavitating and boiling flows is presented.•The model is hyperbolic and conservative.•It enables the capture of interfaces with phase transition.•There are no restrictions regarding flow speed and density jumps at interfaces.•Computational examples and validation against experimental data are given. A flow model is derived for the numerical simulation of multi-phase flows with phase transition. The model arises from the classical multi-component Euler equations, but is associated to a non-classical thermodynamic closure: each phase is compressible and evolves in its own subvolume, with phases sharing common pressure, velocity and temperature, leading to non-trivial thermodynamic relations for the mixture. Phase transition is made possible through the introduction of Gibbs free energy relaxation terms in the equations. Capillary effects and heat conduction – essential in boiling flows – are introduced as well. The resulting multi-phase flow model is hyperbolic, valid for arbitrary density jumps at interfaces as well as arbitrary flow speeds. Its capabilities are illustrated successively through examples of nozzle induced cavitation, a high-speed evaporating liquid jet, and heated wall induced boiling.