Numerical analysis of a ventilated supercavity under periodic motion of the cavitator

This paper presents a numerical simulation of the geometry and the pressure distribution of a ventilated supercavity at different cavitator amplitudes and periods of motion.The numerical method is validated by comparing with the results of a semi-empirical formula under specific conditions.It is shown that the simulation can capture the boundary fluctuations of the ventilated supercavity and its internal pressure variations in a cavitator motion cycle.The simulation results show that the supercavity boundary experiences wave-like deformations when the wavelength of the disturbance caused by the cavitator motion is comparable to the supercavity length.It is also shown that the supercavity closure changes in form between a re-entrant jet and a twin vortex owing to the variations of the pressure difference between the outside and the inside of the supercavity near the closure region.The maximum diameter of the ventilated supercavity exhibits periodic changes with a double peak in each cavitator motion cycle,caused by the corresponding changes of the difference between the internal and external pressures.With the increase of the amplitude of motion of the cavitator,the supercavity boundary has enhanced wave-like undulations,with an increased maximum diameter,and with fluctuations in the cavitation number.As the period of the cavitator motion increases,the wavelength of the disturbances caused by this motion becomes greater than the supercavity length,and so the wave-like undulations of the supercavity boundary and the maximum diameter of the supercavity gradually decrease,but the variations of the cavitation number increase.Moreover,with the increase of the periods,the delay effects on the variations of the characteristics of the supercavity geometry caused by cavitator motion gradually decrease,and they practically vanish for large periods.

Transient dynamic analysis for the ventilated supercavity under the action of tail jetting flow

Ventilated cavitation could be applied to underwater vehicles to achieve a high drag-reduction ratio.The ventilated supercavity may experience deformation,fluctuation,and instability under the influence of the high-speed jetting flow generated by the propulsion system.This study focuses on understanding the transient dynamics of a ventilated supercavity with jetting flow at the tail.Experiments are performed in an open water tunnel system with a high degassing rate.The evolution of the gas-liquid interface under different jetting flow rates is recorded in detail.A compressible multiphase model coupled with shear stress turbulence(SST)and surface capturing models is adopted herein to study the flow pattern in depth.As the jet velocity increases from subsonic to sonic speed,the flow field presents three different modes that could be identified as the transparent cavity(TC),transparent cavityjetting(TC-J),and deformed cavity-jetting(DC-J)modes.A new gas shedding scheme that couples twinvortex shedding with surface fluctuation shedding is observed in the TC mode.The variations in the internal flow structure and the local pressure vibration are discussed in detail.The transition of the flow pattern with dimensionless jetting momentum ratio and kinetic energy ratio is obtained.The obtained results could provide valuable insights into the control of the ventilated supercavity.

Numerical Analysis of the Effects of Periodic Gust Flow on the Wake Structure of Ventilated Supercavities

A computational model is established to investigate the effects of a periodic gust flow on the wake structure of ventilated supercavities.The effectiveness of the computational model is validated by comparing with available experimental data.Benefited from this numerical model,the vertical velocity characteristics in the entire flow field can be easily monitored and analyzed under the action of a gust generator;further,the unsteady evolution of the flow parameters of the closed region of the supercavity can be captured in any location.To avoid the adverse effects of mounting struts in the experiments and to obtain more realistic results,the wake structure of a ventilated supercavity without mounting struts is investigated.Unsteady changes in the wake morphology and vorticity distribution pattern of the ventilated supercavity are determined.The results demonstrate that the periodic swing of the gust generator can generate a gust flow and,therefore,generate a periodic variation of the ventilated cavitation numberσ.At the peakσ,a re-entrant jet closure appears in the wake of the ventilated supercavity.At the valleyσ,a twin-vortex closure appears in the wake of the ventilated supercavity.For the forward facing model,the twin vortex appears as a pair of centrally rolled-up vortices,due to the closure of vortex is affected by the structure.For the backward facing model,however,the twin vortex appears alternately as a pair of centrally rolled-up vortices and a pair of centrally rolled-down vortices,against the periodic gust flow.

Effect of attack angle change on hydrodynamic character of supercavitating bodies

A series of experiments has been done in a moderate-velocity cavitation tunnel to investigate the effects of attack angle change on hydrodynamic characters of supercavitation. Hydrodynamic characters of the aft section at various attack angles were compared. The investigation shows that hydrodynamic forces of the aft section are dependent of supercavity shapes at different attack angles,and the magnitude of hydrodynamic forces of the aft section varies with the change of attack angle. When the aft section is in the fully wetted case,the drag coefficient changes little. Lift and moment coefficients both increase with the increased attack angle,and the increase magnitude is not large. When the aft body planing is on the cavity boundary,the drag coefficient of nonzero attack angle is larger than that of zero attack angle,and the maximal lift and moment coefficients both vary obviously with the increased attack angle. In the case that the body is fully enveloped by cavity,the drag coefficient,lift coefficient and moment coefficient are nearly constant with the change of attack angles.

THE COMPARATIVE STUDY OF VENTILATED SUPER CAVITY SHAPE IN WATER TUNNEL AND INFINITE FLOW FIELD

In order to understand the difference of ventilated supercavity in water tunnel and infinite flow field, 3-D numerical simulations are carried out to obtain the ventilated supercavity in above mentioned conditions based on RANS equations, using the finite volume method and SST turbulence model in the framework of the two fluid multiphase flow model. The numerical method adopted in this article for the infinite flow field and water tunnel experiments is validated by comparing results with those of empirical formulas and experimental data. On this basis the difference between water tunnel experiments and infinite flow field is studied, including the influence of the route loss and the blocking effect in the water tunnel. Finally, some suggestions are made for water tunnel experiments.