Water Tunnel Investigations of Scale Effects in Cavitation Detachment from Smooth Slender Bodies and Characteristics of Flow Past a Bi-Convex Hydrofoil

Abstract

Experimental results concerning force coefficients and cavity detachment points under various cavitating conditions on two geometrically similar bi-convex hydrofoils are presented. A linearized cavity flow theory with cavitation separation points determined from the assumption of smooth separation at the detachment point is presented and a comparison is made of these theoretical results with the experiments. Scaling problems with cavitation separation from smooth slender bodies are discussed. With the help of photographic studies three different types of cavitation separation from smooth bodies are proposed.