Effect of Turbulence in Free Stream on Cavitation Incipience of Hydrofoil

Abstract

It was proved experimentally that the conditions of cavitation incipience, such as the positions of incipient cavitation bubble formation and collapse, extent of cavitation, and the propensity toward cavitation onset (in terms of cavitation coefficient or of flow velocity at cavitation incipience), are affected by the degree of turbulence present in the free stream. A side experiment was also undertaken to ascertain the validity of the use of a sphere in measuring the degree of turbulence.