Transient incipient cavitation in an oil hydraulic poppet valve is numerically simulated using a computational model based on Volume-of-Fluid (VOF) technique where transient 2D/axisymmetric Navier-Stokes equations are solved along with an equation to track the cavity interface. The numerical results are compared with those of the available experiments in the literature. The method is then used to improve the hydraulic valve performance based on cavity regimes in flow separation point. The effects of several parameters such as poppet height, poppet angle and poppet and seat configurations are discussed.

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