Study of tip vortex cavitation noise from foils

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Latorre, R.

Affiliations: Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, U.S.A.

Abstract: To design quiet ships an understanding of propeller noise is desirable. Starting from cavitation tunnel measurements of tip vortex cavitation (TVC) noise, the ‘TVC noise envelope’ concept was developed to hypothesize that TVC noise NI=NB+NV. NB represents the noise from cavitation nuclei expanding into the tip vortex and NV represents the formation noise of the visible vortex cavity. To test this hypothesis three dimensional foil results were used. By simulating the growth of spherical bubbles spiraling around a Rankine vortex, the NB component was shown to be in good agreement with the measured TVC noise envelope. By ejecting air from the foil tip, the NV component was experimentally simulated and its noise signal compared with the actual TVC noise signal. From these simulation results, the role of cavitation nuclei, tip vortex strength and radius on the TVC noise mechanism could be better understood.

DOI: 10.3233/ISP-1980-2730702

Journal: International Shipbuilding Progress, vol. 27, no. 307, pp. 66-85, 1980