This thesis presents experimental and modelling research on atmospheric pressure hollow cathodes and hollow electrodes. Experiments with the hybrid hollow electrode activated discharge (H-HEAD), which is a combination of a hollow cathode and a microwave plasma source, is presented. The experiments show that this source is able to produce long plasma columns in air and nitrogen at atmospheric pressure and at very low gas flow rates. Measurements of the vibrational temperature of the nitrogen molecules are also presented in this thesis. The vibrational temperature is an indication of the electron temperature in the plasma, an important characteristic of the plasma. Modelling work on the hollow cathode at atmospheric pressure with fluid equations is also presented. It is shown that the inclusion of fast and secondary electrons, characteristic of the hollow cathode plasmas, increases the sheath width. The sheath width was found to be of the order of 100 μm. By modelling the plasma as highly collisional by using the drift-diffusion approximation, it was shown that the increase in sheath thickness was larger at lower pressures than at higher pressures. Still, the sheath width can be of the order of 100 μm. A pulsed atmospheric plasma in a hollow electrode geometry was also modelled by the drift-diffusion fluid equations, with the addition of the energy equation for electrons. Rate and transport coefficients for the electrons were calculated from the solution to the Boltzmann equation as functions of mean electron energy. The dynamics of the plasma at pulse rise time showed large electron density and mean energy peaks at the cathode ends, but also that these quantities were enhanced at the centre of the discharge, between the cathode plates.

Cavitation is the spontaneous vaporisation of a liquid to its gaseous state due to the local absolute pressure falling to the liquid's vapour pressure (Douglas, Gasiorek et al. 1995). Cavitation is present in a wide range of mechanical systems ranging from ship screws to journal bearing. Generally, cavitation is unavoidable and may cause considerable damage and efficiency losses to these systems. This thesis considers hydraulic systems specifically, and uses a modified Greens equation to develop a boundary integral method to simulate the effect that suspended solid bodies have on a single cavitation bubble. Because of the limitations of accurately modelling cavitation bubbles beyond touchdown, results are only presented for cases up to touchdown. The aim of the model is to draw insight into the reasons there is a measurable change in cavitation erosion rate with increasing oil-in-water emulsion percentage. This principle was extended to include the effect that ingested particulates may have on cavitation in hydraulic machinery. Two particular situations are modelled; the first consists of stationary rigid particles in varying proximity to a cavitation bubble near a rigid boundary. The second case is similar; however the suspended particle is allowed to move under the influence of the pressure differential caused by the expanding/contracting cavitation bubble. Numerous characteristics of the domain are considered, including domain pressures and fluid field motion, and individual boundary surface characteristics. The conclusion of the thesis is that solid bodies, either stationary or moving, have little effect on the cavity from an energy perspective. Regardless of size or density, all energy transferred from the cavity to the solid body is returned indicating that there is no net change. As this energy is ultimately responsible for the peak pressure experienced by the domain (and hence responsible for eroding the rigid boundary) as the cavity rebounds, it then serves that a cavity with a solid body will rebound at the same pressure as a cavity without a suspended body present. If this is coupled with the observation that the cavity centroid at touchdown is largely unaffected by the presence of a suspension, then it would appear that the bubble near a solid would rebound at a very similar position as a cavity without a solid. Consequently, the damage potential of a cavity is unaffected by a suspension. However, there is one point of contention as the profile of the re-entrant jet of the cavity is altered by the presence of a suspension. As energy is radiated away from the cavity during penetration, it is possible that the shape of the jet may alter the rate that energy is radiated away during penetration. However, this requires further research to be definitive.

The production from an oil reservoir is a mixture of liquids (oil and water) and gas, and is often maintained by using a pump placed in the well to ensure a continuous flow to the surface. Electrical Submersible Pumps consist of stacked centrifugal pump stages, each comprising a bladed impeller (rotating part) and diffuser (stationary part). In multiphase conditions, the gas tends to accumulate in the impeller, severely reducing the pressure produced by the pump. Radial-flow pumps operate in a plane perpendicular to their rotation axis, while mixed-flow pumps are characterised by a lower meridional angle (generally 40 to 80 degrees), and are generally better at handling gas-liquid mixtures. We first describe the impact of gas on the whole pumping system, from the reservoir to the storage facility, and give context to the subject. The available literature shows that the size of the gas bubbles present in the fluid is critical to the pump performance. A transparent, full-scale pump was built in order to explore the flow features in single and multiphase flows. Laser Doppler Velocimetry and high speed imaging in single phase flow showed a high turbulence level in the wake of the impeller blades, and recirculation cells at low flow rates. In gas-liquid conditions, we demonstrated that the bubble size varies within a pump stage, as break-up occurs at the impeller tip, and coalescence is dominant in the diffuser, especially because of recirculation. The first impeller acted as a mixer, and at moderate to high gas fractions (10 to 30%), the flow patterns at the stage level alternated between bubbly and radially separated flows. Finally, a dispersed-gas model was developed to predict the pressure rise in a mixed-flow pump impeller under gas-liquid conditions. This model based on the forces acting on a single spherical gas bubble, was implemented with a simplified, parametric representation of the flow field in a mixed-flow impeller. In the meridional direction, the Coriolis force opposes the centrifugal force and the adverse pressure gradient. Both forces tend to retain the gas bubble within the impeller. The relative magnitude of the drag force strongly depends on the maximal bubble diameter, which was determined as a function of the flow conditions and used to calculate the gas velocity through the impeller. This method resulted in a better agreement with the experimental data than a one-dimensional two-fluid model where the gas phase follows the same path as the liquid. We used the dispersed-gas model to give quantitative evidence that low blade and meridional angles reduce the gas accumulation and the associated performance degradation.