Mechanism of Cloud Cavitation Generation on a 2-D Hydrofoil

Abstract

When a sheet cavity on a hydrofoil section attains a certain size, it starts violent periodical oscillation shedding a harmful cloud cavity downstream at each oscillation cycle. This phenomenon is due to the occurrence of the re-entrant jet. In this paper, the behavior of the re-entrant jet was observed in detail using a transparent foil section model and a high-speed video camera. Time variation of pressure distribution on the foil was measured simultaneously. It was found that the re-entrant jet can start at any point in sheet cavity elongating stage. Even two re-entrant jets can appear in one cycle. When a re-entrant jet is generated upstream, the jet velocity is lower compared to the case when a re-entrant jet is generated downstream. The jet velocity is almost constant at the value determined by the location of the generation. As a result, the cavity oscillation cycle becomes constant when it is normalized by the sheet cavity surface velocity and the maximum sheet cavity length. The jet velocity is calculated from the pressure gradient at the sheet cavity T.E., using a simple theoretical model. The calculated jet velocity agrees with the measurement, showing that the jet velocity increases as its generation point shifts downstream. It is possible that pressure gradient at the sheet cavity T.E. is the driving force of re-entrant jet.