Numerical investigation of body and hole effects on the cavitating flow behind a disk cavitator at extremely low cavitation numbers

Supercavitation has been recently proposed as an effective method for drag reduction of underwater vehicles. For this purpose, a cavitator is used to generate a large continuous bubble to cover the vehicle. Extremely low cavitation numbers are required in these applications to provide a sufficiently voluminous cavity. In this study, the effects of body presence inside the cavity of a disk-shaped cavitator are studied numerically. An element based finite volume approach is used for solving Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations. In order to validate the numerical scheme, turbulence and cavitation models, the cavitating flow over a hemispherical nosed cylinder body and also behind a disk-shaped cavitator has been simulated and the numerical results are validated against existing analytical and experimental data. Next, the effects of body presence inside the cavity of the disk-cavitator on the cavity characteristics are investigated. Results show that the cavity length is slightly smaller when it closes on the body, in comparison with the freely-closing cavity. Furthermore, the effects of adding a concentric hole with various diameters to the disk-cavitator on the cavity features are examined. The degree of drag reduction and changes of the cavity dimensions are determined at various cavitation numbers.