A Note on the Calculation of Supercavitating Hydrofoils With Rounded Noses

Abstract

Practical supercavitating hydrofoils have rounded leading edges for mechanical strength. The prediction of pressures near the leading edge of such hydrofoils by linearized free-streamline theory fails because singularities are usually required there by the theory. A simple method based on singular perturbations of avoiding these difficulties for hydrofoils which have parabolic noses but an arbitrary profile downstream of the leading edge is presented. The results of such a computation on a hydrofoil with a parabolic profile and with fixed cavity separation near the leading edge radius are shown and are compared with an exact free-streamline theory. The agreement is excellent.