Closure mechanisms of ventilated supercavities under steady and unsteady flows

The present work reports some interesting experimental results for ventilated supercavitation in steady and unsteady flows. First, a variety of closure modes obtained as a result of systematic variation in Froude number and air entrainment, are reported. The closure mechanisms were found to differ from the standard criterion reported in the literature. Further, the occurrence of a variety of stable and unstable closure mechanisms were discovered that have not been reported in the literature. Next, a hypothesis is presented to explain the cause behind these different closure mechanisms. The proposed hypothesis is then validated by synchronized high-speed imaging and pressure measurements inside and outside of the supercavity. These measurements show that the supercavity closure is a function of instantaneous cavitation number under unsteady flow conditions. (Research sponsored by Office of Naval Research, USA).