Cavity Detachment from a Wedge with Rounded Edges and the Surface Tension Effect

Abstract

Cavity flow around a wedge with rounded edges was studied, taking into account the surface tension effect and the Brillouin–Villat criterion of cavity detachment. The liquid compressibility and viscosity were ignored. An analytical solution was obtained in parametric form by applying the integral hodograph method. This method gives the possibility of deriving analytical expressions for complex velocity and for potential, both defined in a parameter plane. An expression for the curvature of the cavity boundary was obtained analytically. By using the dynamic boundary condition on the cavity boundary, an integral equation in the velocity modulus was derived. The particular case of zero surface tension is a special case of the solution. The surface tension effect was computed over a wide range of the Weber number for various degrees of cavitation development. Numerical results are presented for the flow configuration, the drag force coefficient, and the position of cavity detachment. It was found that for each radius of the edges, there exists a critical Weber number, below which the iterative solution process fails to converge, so a steady flow solution cannot be computed. This critical Weber number increases as the radius of the edge decreases. As the edge radius tends to zero, the critical Weber number tends to infinity, or a steady cavity flow cannot be computed at any finite Weber number in the case of sharp wedge edges. This shows some limitations of the model based on the Brillouin–Villat criterion of cavity detachment.