Numerical study on cavitating flow due to a hydrofoil near a free surface

A numerical strategy is proposed for a viscous uniform flow past a 2-D partially cavitating hydrofoil placed at a finite depth from the free surface. The flow was modeled by the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations. A finite-volume method with the SIMPLE scheme and k-ε turbulence model were employed for computations. The “full cavitation model,” which included the effects of vaporization, noncondensible gases and compressibility, was incorporated in the computation of cavitating flow. The cavity shape and free surface were updated iteratively till a reasonable convergence was reached. As for the determination of the free surface, the VOF approach was adopted. The test cases show the accuracy and stability of our procedure to capture the cavitating flow near the free surface.