Influence of Periodic Disturbance Incoming Flow on the Supercavitation Phenomenon

Abstract

Previous studies on supercavitation flow have primarily focused on a standing water environment, neglecting the impact of periodic disturbance in a marine environment. Therefore, a series of periodic functions with different frequencies and amplitudes are defined to simulate the periodic disturbance, and a slender projectile is adopted to numerically study the effect of the periodic disturbance on the supercavitation phenomenon in this paper. Research results show that the cavity profile evolves periodically with the periodic disturbance of the external flow field. At the same time, as the frequency and amplitude increase, the minimum cavity shape gradually decreases to the point that the projectile cannot be wholly enveloped, and the maximum cavity profile gradually increases. Furthermore, the relationship between the cavity length (l i ) and the frequency (f) when the cavity cannot envelop the projectile is obtained (l i = −7.381f + 215.384). Meanwhile, the critical frequency range (7.16 ≤ f < 7.96) and amplitude range (1.1 ≤ am < 1.22) of the cavity to envelop the projectile are obtained. The key factors of periodic disturbances on supercavitation flow are revealed in this paper, which provides a theoretical foundation for maintaining supercavitation flow stability in an environment of periodic disturbance flow.