Cavitating Flow Past a Cascade of Circular Arc Hydrofoils

Abstract

Continued interest in the application of cavitating hydrofoils to various types of lifting and control surfaces on water craft, the recently publicized super-cavitating propeller and other types of rotating machinery, has resulted in a considerable amount of information on the behavior of the cavitating flow past isolated objects. The flow details of many configurations of interest may not, however, be approximated well by information on isolated shapes. For example, the close proximity of the neighboring vanes in a lifting ladder foil used for the support of a hydrofoil boat might conceivably have an important effect on the lift of an individual blade. The same effect may be expected to occur in the flow through the blades of a propeller with extensive cavitation. The problem of the cavitating flow through a cascade or lattice of hydrofoils is then of considerable technical interest, although only a few works have appeared on this subject.