Numerical Simulation of the Water-Air-Abrasive Mixture within a Cutting Head for Water Jet Machining
Amene ALLAL, Pascal FEDE, Laurent CROUZEIX, Patrick GILLES
Abstract. Abrasive waterjet machining is an unconventional process for blind machining and is in full expansion. Its concentrated action limits both the heating of the machined zone and the forces exerted on the workpiece, allowing the reduction of deformation of thin and hard metal plates during machining. Previous studies identified the process parameters that must be controlled to meet quality requirements. However, they also highlighted the limits of experimental approaches. In this work, numerical simulations have been performed to better understand the jet dynamics, which is difficult to access experimentally because it is composed of three phases: the air (gas), the water (liquid) and the abrasive particles (solid). In the numerical model, the three phases are represented with an Euler-Euler approach and their inter-play interactions are accounted for. The main parameters of the study are the water pressure and the abrasive flow rate. The represented domain corresponds to a Paser 4 ™ head from the nozzle to the outlet of the focusing tube. The three-dimensional mesh is composed of approximately 700 000 tetrahedral and hexahedral cells. The analysis focuses on the particle concentration and their velocities. This approach allows a deeper understanding of the mixing occurring in the upper part of the cutting head and enables a fine characterization of the abrasive jet at the outlet of the focusing tube. The particle volume fraction and velocity components are evaluated at different cross-sections of the cutting head. The results show the presence of air recirculation in the mixing chamber, which affect the particle trajectories, and consequently their distribution at the outlet of the focusing tube.
Keywords
Abrasive Water Jet, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Three-Phase Mixing, Machining
Published online 11/8/2026, 5 pages
Copyright © 2026 by the author(s)
Published under license by Materials Research Forum LLC., Millersville PA, USA
Citation: Amene ALLAL, Pascal FEDE, Laurent CROUZEIX, Patrick GILLES, Numerical Simulation of the Water-Air-Abrasive Mixture within a Cutting Head for Water Jet Machining, Materials Research Proceedings, Vol. 73, pp 206-210, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644904459-40
The article was published as article 40 of the book Mechanics of Advanced Materials and Structures
Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
References
[1] Y. W. Seo, M. Ramulu, et D. Kim, « Machinability of titanium alloy (Ti’6Al’4V) by abrasive waterjets », Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture, vol. 217, no 12, p. 1709‑1721, déc. 2003. https://doi.org/10.1243/095440503772680631
[2] V. H. Bui, P. Gilles, T. Sultan, G. Cohen, et W. Rubio, « A new cutting depth model with rapid calibration in abrasive water jet machining of titanium alloy », Int J Adv Manuf Technol, vol. 93, no 5, p. 1499‑1512, nov. 2017. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-017-0581-x
[3] T. Sultan, P. Gilles, G. Cohen, F. Cenac, et W. Rubio, « Modeling incision profile in AWJM of Titanium alloys Ti6Al4V », Mechanics & Industry, vol. 17, no 4, p. 403, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1051/meca/2015102
[4] T. N. D. Kumar et D. S. Srinivasu, « Integration of CFD simulated abrasive waterjet flow dynamics with the material removal model for kerf geometry prediction in overlapped erosion on Ti-6Al-4V alloy », Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory, vol. 127, p. 102788, sept. 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.simpat.2023.102788
[5] S. Mer, O. Praud, H. Neau, N. Merigoux, J. Magnaudet, et V. Roig, « The emptying of a bottle as a test case for assessing interfacial momentum exchange models for Euler–Euler simulations of multi-scale gas-liquid flows », International Journal of Multiphase Flow, vol. 106, p. 109‑124, sept. 2018. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmultiphaseflow.2018.05.002
[6] A. Gobin, H. Neau, O. Simonin, J. Llinas, V. Reiling, et J. Sélo, « Fluid dynamic numerical simulation of a gas phase polymerization reactor », Numerical Methods in Fluids, vol. 43, no 10‑11, p. 1199‑1220, déc. 2003. https://doi.org/10.1002/fld.542
