Vortex cavitation: A progress report
- Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States). St. Anthony Falls Hydraulic Lab.
Cavitation in vortical flows is a significant problem. An important aspect is the need for a better understanding of the physics of cavitation in the vortices tailing from lifting surfaces such as propellers and hydrofoils. This is a review of experimental and numerical research that has been recently carried out with a series of hydrofoils. This is a review of experimental and numerical research that has been recently carried out with a series of hydrofoils. This research was aimed at investigating the interrelated effects of vortex structure, including the details of the vortex roll-up process close to the tip, dissolved gas content, and water quality as it related to the amount of tension that can be sustained in the vortex before cavitation occurs. The experimental phase includes lift and drag measurements, oil flow visualization of the boundary layer flow on the lifting surfaces, and observation of both cavitation inception and desinence in strong and weak water. An improved photographic technique has been developed to study the complex bubble dynamics inherent in the inception process. Preliminary results indicate that the bubble growth process is strongly dependent on the size and number of nuclei in the free stream. Numerical simulations indicate that the minimum pressure in the vortex is very close to the tip of the lifting surface, in agreement with the observation that the inception process also occurs very close to the tip under most conditions.
- OSTI ID:
- 100911
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-940659--; ISBN 0-7918-1373-8
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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