Study on numerical simulation method for motion of supercavitation vehicles

A calculation method was developed to predict motion of supercavitation vehicles based on the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model. Control equation of supercavitating flow and motion equations of vehicles are coupling solved through self-made software. This method can directly obtain hydrodynamic data of the vehicle and accurately predict instantaneous motion attitude and trajectory of the vehicle. The simulation results of a supercavitation vehicle motion process show that this method can predict interaction between vehicle and cavity surface and periodic tail beat phenomenon, which accord with experiment results. Furthermore, the periodic variation of vehicle attack angle, which is found in experimental studies, is also caught though simulation. This further proves that the method developed in this paper has an ability to accurately simulate motion of supercavitation vehicles underwater.