Effect of Hydrofoil Planform on Tip Vortex Roll-Up and Cavitation

The effect of the planform of hydrofoils on tip vortex roll-up and cavitation has been investigated by testing three foils having the same NACA 16020 cross section but different shapes. One foil has an elliptical shape while the other two are shaped like quarters of ellipses; one with a straight leading edge and the other with a straight trailing edge. Experiments were conducted in the ENSTA, Ecole Navale and IMHEF cavitation tunnels with homologous foils of different sizes to investigate Reynolds number effects. Hydrodynamic forces as well as cavitation inception and desinence performance were measured as a function of Reynolds number and foil incidence angle. Laser Doppler measurements of the tangential and axial velocity profiles in the region immediately downstream of the tip were also performed. At equal incidence angle and Reynolds number, the three foils show different critical cavitation conditions and the maximum tangential velocity near the tip increases as the hydrofoil tip is moved from a forward to a rear position. However, the velocity profiles become more similar with increasing downstream distance, and at downstream distances greater than one chord aft of the tip, the differences between the foils disappear. The rate of tip vortex roll-up is much faster for the straight leading edge than for the straight trailing edge foil and, in the latter case, a significant portion of the roll-up occurs along the foil curved leading edge. The minimum of the pressure coefficient on the axis of the vortex was estimated from the velocity measurements and correlated with the desinent cavitation number for the largest free stream velocities. The correlation of data is very satisfactory. At the highest Reynolds number tested and at equal lift coefficients, the straight leading edge foil displays the most favorable cavitation desinent numbers.