An Experimental Investigation of Cavitation Inception and Development on a Two-Dimensional Hydrofoil

The cavitation inception (and desinent) angles at given cavitation numbers, the velocity distribution, and the resulting pressure coefficient, together with the sheet cavity lengths developing on a hydrofoil surface, have been investigated experimentally for a Reynolds number ranging between 0.4 × 106 and 1.2 × 106. It is shown that the cavitation inception (and desinent) angle decreases progressively when the Reynolds number increases and tends to be close to the theoretical (inviscid) value when the Reynolds number is larger than 0.8 × 106. The magnitude and the position of the minimum surface pressure coefficient, inferred from the velocity distribution measured at the leading edge, were shown to be dependent upon the Reynolds number as well. An investigation of the cavitating flow velocity field upstream of the cavity and on the cavity surface showed that the pressure in the cavity was very close to the vapor pressure. The detachment location of the cavity was found to occur very close to the leading edge (at about one hundredth of the foil chord for both Re = 0.4 × 10® and Re = 0.8 × 106). The length cavities measured from flow visualizations exhibited a sudden change for a Reynolds number passing from 0.7 × 106 to 0.8 × 106 with a given angle of incidence (α= 6 deg) and cavitation number (σ = 1.3). Photographs of the sheet cavity show that the cavity length can be inferred also from the extent of the region for which the pressure coefficient is close to the cavitation number. It was shown to have the values l/c 0.03 for Re = 0.4 × 106 and l/c ~ 0.06 for Re = 0.8 × 10® and σ = 1.8 with the latter value very close to the value obtained from flow visualizations. Photographs of the cavity show that the increase of the cavity length is coupled to the migration, towards the leading edge, of a transition point on the cavity surface when the Reynolds number increases.