Tip Leakage Vortex Cavitation from the Tip Clearance of a Single Hydrofoil

Focusing on the tip leakage vortex cavitation, experimental and numerical studies were carried out as the first step of the investigation of cavitations in tip leakage flow. For a single hydrofoil with a tip clearance, tip leakage vortex cavitations were observed for various cavitation numbers and angles of attack. To simulate the tip leakage vortex cavitation, a simple calculation of 2-D unsteady flow based on the slender body approximation with taking into account the effects of cavity growth (Watanabe et al., 2001) was made. The results of calculations show qualitative agreement with the experimental results with respect to the location and size of the cavity. The influences of the cavitation number, angle of attack, blade loading, and the size of tip clearance were simulated reasonably well.