Numerical simulation of unsteady flow characteristics for cavitation around a 3-D hydrofoil

Abstract

At present it is possible to predict more accurately by various numerical methods established for cavitation simulation around a hydrofoil. However, for the solution of the complex unsteady cavity flow, it is still marginal. In this paper, numerical method is adopted to simulate cavitation around 3-D NACA0015 hydrofoil with homogeneous two-phase flow calculation using commercial code CFX-solver with two turbulence models, the standard RNG k-e turbulence model and the modified RNG k-e turbulence model respectively. First, pressure coefficient for non-cavitating flow, time averaged values of unsteady cavity flow around a hydrofoil are verified to simulate more closely to an actual cavity flow. And then frequency analysis is performed with Fast Fourier Transform. The results show that the calculation results with modified RNG k-e turbulence model agree with experimental results in terms of mean cavity length and pressure drop, but the unsteady flow characteristics of oscillating cavitation still deviate slightly in terms of unsteady cavity flow.