Prediction of cavitation dynamics and cavitation erosion around a three-dimensional twisted hydrofoil with an LES method

Abstract

The Large Eddy Simulation (LES) method coupled with a Schnerr and Sauer cavitation model was adopted to simulate the unsteady cavitating flow around a Delft Twist 11 (Twist11) hydrofoil. We proposed a novel aggressiveness indicator to predict the risk of cavitation erosion on the hydrofoil surface by utilizing LES simulations as input. The proposed aggressiveness indicator introduces the time-averaged pressure, the hypotheses of Nohmi et al. and the concept of the power exponent into the energy balance approach. The results show that the current numerical method integrally reproduces the evolution of the cloud cavity observed in the cavitation tunnel. The cavitation erosion risk predicted by the aggressiveness indicator ${⟨e_1⟩}_{n=5}^{\prime }$ agrees well with the erosion pattern obtained from the paint test. The predicted erosion risk regions are located in the “hoof” positions (region 2 and region 3) of the horse-shoe-shaped cloudy cavity and the positions (region 1) near the cavity closure line.