Numerical study on the cavitation instability from the perspectives of pressure change and hydrodynamics evolution in the cavitating flow over a hydrofoil

The objective of this study is to investigate cavitation instability by analyzing the pressure change and hydrodynamics evolution in the cavitating flow over a hydrofoil. Two-dimensional (2D) simulation results indicate that the multi-peak pressure features are influenced by the position on the hydrofoil surface. The increased cavitation number in a certain range aggravates the oscillation of partial cavitation and promotes the cavity change, then leads to the occurrence of higher peak pressure and more complicated fluctuation frequency. The lift coefficient presents a near-linear increasing trend due to the extended low-pressure area on the suction surface and the suppression on the vortex generation in the stable development stage of sheet cavity. The interaction between the vortex with different directions on the trailing edge dominates the fluctuation of lift coefficient. The differences in three-dimensional (3D) cavitating flows with constant velocity inlet and sinusoidal velocity inlet are the flow separation point distribution and vortex changes. More separation points form in the downstream of the hydrofoil due to more cloud cavity reattachment behaviours for sinusoidal velocity inlet. Furthermore, the sinusoidal velocity inlet promotes a more violent cavity detachment and the large-scale vortex formation, which enhances the fluctuations of pressure change, lift and drag coefficient.