Impact of Leading Edge Roughness in Cavitation Simulations around a Twisted Foil

Journal article, 2020

The simulation of fully turbulent, three-dimensional, cavitating flow over Delft twisted foil is conducted by an implicit large eddy simulation (LES) approach in both smooth and tripped conditions, the latter by including leading-edge roughness. The analysis investigates the importance of representing the roughness elements on the flow structures in the cavitation prediction. The results include detailed comparisons of cavitation pattern, vorticity distribution, and force predictions with the experimental measurements. It is noted that the presence of roughness generates very small cavitating vortical structures which interact with the main sheet cavity developing over the foil to later form a cloud cavity. Very similar to the experimental observation, these interactions create a streaky sheet cavity interface which cannot be captured in the smooth condition, influencing both the richness of structures in the detached cloudy cavitation as well as the extent and transport of vapour. It is further found to have a direct impact on the pressure distribution, especially in the mid-chord region where the shed cloud cavity collapses.