Experimental and numerical investigation of cavitating vortical patterns around a Tulin hydrofoil

The objective of this paper is to investigate the cavitating flow patterns around a specific hydrofoil (Tulin hydrofoil) via combined experimental and numerical studies, and to better understand the vortex-cavitation interactions in transient cavitating flows. The experimental studies were carried out in the closed-loop cavitation tunnel, and a high-speed digital camera is applied to document the cavitation patterns. The numerical investigations are performed using a large-eddy simulation method and the Zwart cavitation model. The results showed that the predicted cavity formation and evolution agree well with the experimental observation. With decreasing of the cavitation number, different cavitating flow patterns occur around the hydrofoil, namely inception cavitation (σ = 1.57), vortex cavitation (σ = 1.27), cavitating vortex street (σ = 1.07), cloud cavitation (σ = 0.87), mixture supercavitation (σ = 0.67), and developed supercavitation (σ = 0.54). Especially, the flow structures of vortex cavitation, cavitating vortex street and cloud cavitation were further investigated with the Euler and Lagrangian method. For vortex cavitation, the cavitating vortex forms and sheds at the leading and trailing edge of the foil alternatively, with a pair of asymmetric vortex structures observed. The trailing edge cavitating vortex has a regular vortex shape and a clear boundary between the vortex structures. For cavitating vortex street, vortex shedding process is not independent, instead, the vortex braid between the trailing edge cavitating vortexes and the so called “cat's eye” vortex row can be obviously observed. The center of circulation region is corresponding to low finite-time Lyapunov exponent (FTLE) value, and the bridges of the FTLE is concentrated in the boundary of the vortex structure and curling in the dynamic surrounding of the circulation region. The trajectory of the points well presents the dynamic flow pattern. For cloud cavitation pattern, the cavity develops to cover the entire suction surface, and the cloud cavity sheds downstream periodically.