Experimental estimation of a scaling exponent for tip vortex cavitation via its inception test in full- and model-ship

Tip vortex cavitation noise of marine propeller became primary concerns to reduce hazardous environmental impacts from commercial ship or to keep the underwater surveillance of naval ships. The investigations of the tip vortex and its induced noise are normally conducted through the model test in a water cavitation tunnel. However the Reynolds number of model-test is much smaller than that of the full-scale, which subsequently results in the difference of tip vortex cavitation inception. Hence, the scaling law between model- and full-scales needs to be identified prior to the prediction and assessment of propeller noise in full scale. From previous researches, it is generally known that the incipient caivtation number of tip vortex can be represented as a power of the Reynolds number. However, the power exponent for scaling, which is the main focus of this research, has not been clearly studied yet. This paper deals with the estimation of scaling exponent based on tip vortex cavitation inception test in both full- and model-scale ships. Acoustical measurements as well as several kind of signal processing technique for an inception criterion suggest the scaling exponent as 0.30. The scaling value proposed in this study shows slight difference to the one of most recent research. Besides, extrapolation of model-ship noise measurement using the proposed one predicts the full-scale noise measurement with an acceptable discrepancy.