Cavitating flows, which can occur in a variety of practical cases, can be modelled with a wide range of
methods. One strategy consists of using the RANS (Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes) equations and an
additional transport equation for the liquid volume fraction, where mass transfer rate due to cavitation
is modelled by a mass transfer model. In this study, we compare three widespread mass transfer models
available in literature for the prediction of sheet cavitation around a hydrofoil. These models share the
common feature of employing empirical coefficients, to tune the models of condensation and evaporation
processes, that can influence the accuracy and stability of the numerical predictions. In order to compare
the different mass transfer models fairly and congruently, the empirical coefficients of the different models
are first well tuned using an optimization strategy. The resulting well tuned mass transfer models are
then compared considering the flow around the NACA66(MOD) and NACA009 hydrofoils. The numerical
predictions based on the three different tuned mass transfer models are very close to each other and in
agreement with the experimental data. Moreover, the optimization strategy seems to be stable and accurate,
and could be extended to additional mass transfer models and further flow problems.
