THREE DIMENSIONAL NUMERICAL SIMULATION ON THE GRAVITY EFFECT OF VENTILATED CAVITY

Supercavity shape seriously affects the force on the underwater vehicle, and hence the vehicle’s maneuverability. Ventilated supercavitating water-tunnel experiments demonstrate that gravity is one of the main factors influencing supercavity shape. In this paper, based on finite volume method using the two-fluid multiphase flow model and SST (Shear Stress Transport) with the consideration of gas-water interaction and gravity effect, three-dimensional numerical simulations were carried out to model the ventilated supercavity when the disc cavitator moves at different pitching angles. The influence of gravity field on ventilated supercavity shape and the wake structure were finally obtained.