Analysis of cavitation inception and desinence behind surface irregularities

Cavities behind a surface irregularity appear in vortices drifting downstream of it. Cavitation can occur there substantially earlier than over smooth surfaces of the same bodies. Cavitation inception and desinence behind surface irregularities have been intensively studied in the course of water tunnel experiments several decades ago, but no corresponding quantitative theoretical (numerical) analysis was reported. This numerical study is aimed at elaboration of a general approach to the prediction of cavitation desinence numbers for various irregularities over various surfaces and on determination of the major factors influencing these numbers in both computations and experiments. The developed multi-level computational method employs diverse models for flow zones of diverse scale. The viscous-inviscid interaction approach is used for the flow around irregularities submerged (or partially submerged) in the turbulent boundary layer. Combinations of the semi-empirical and asymptotic analyses are used for vortices and cavities in their cores. The computational method is validated with various known experimental data.