THREE-DIMENSIONAL FLOW FIELD SIMULATION AND PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS FOR A SUPERCAVITATING VEHICLE

The configuration as well as the performance evaluating method was proposed for a supercavitating vehicle with a water pipe system. Based on three-dimensional Reynolds averaged N-S equations, a mixture multiphase model, and a full cavitation model, the numerical simulation method for the internal and external flow field of the supercavitating vehicle were developed. Then the simulations were carried out under various working conditions for the supercavitating vehicle with different attack angles. The function laws that the sailing speed, the sailing attack angle and the cavitator attack angle act on the cavity shape, the vehicle hydrodynamics and water pipe performance were obtained. The results show that the sailing attack angle can obviously change axial symmetry of the cavity, which will stimulate vehicle instability. The cavitator attack angle is effective for vehicle control due to its ignorable influence on the cavity symmetry and water pipe performance. The conclusions have some instructional significance in the development of supercavitating vehicles.