A Fast Method to Predict the Cavitation Volume on Two-Dimensional Sections

Abstract

The paper presents a simplified prediction method to estimate cavitation-induced pressure fluctuations by marine propellers in a nonuniform wake field. It is realized by a very fast calculation of the cavitation volume variation. The sheet cavitation volume is represented by the cavitation area in a two-dimensional section, which is the vapor area inside the cavity contour. The variation of the cavitation area on a two-dimensional blade section has been simplified to a relation in quasi-steady condition with only a limited number of nondimensional parameters. This results in a fast method to predict the cavitation area of a blade section passing a wake peak, using a precalculated database. Application of this method to the prediction of cavitation-induced pressure fluctuations shows to be effective. This makes optimization of propeller sections for minimum cavitation-induced pressure fluctuations feasible.