Cavitation Influence on Kármán Vortex Shedding and Induced Hydrofoil Vibrations

The present study deals with the shedding process of the von Kármán vortices at the trailing edge of a 2D hydrofoil at high Reynolds number. This research focuses mainly on the effects of cavitation and fluid-structure interaction on the mechanism of the vortex generation. The vortex shedding frequency, derived from the flow-induced vibration measurement, is found to follow the Strouhal law provided that no hydrofoil resonance frequencies are excited, i.e., lock-off. For such a regime, the von Kármán vortices exhibit strong spanwise 3D instabilities and the cavitation inception index is linearly dependent on the square root of the Reynolds number. In the case of resonance, the vortex shedding frequency is locked onto the hydrofoil eigenfrequency and the spatial coherence is enhanced with a quasi-2D shape. The measurements of the hydrofoil wall velocity amplitude and phase reveal the first torsion eigenmotion. In this case, the cavitation inception index is found to be significantly increased compared to lock-off conditions. It makes clear that the vortex roll-up is amplified by the phase locked vibrations of the trailing edge. For the cavitation inception index, a new correlation relationship that encompasses the entire range of Reynolds numbers, including both the lock-off and the lock-in cases, is proposed and validated. In contrast to the earlier models, the new correlation takes into account the trailing edge displacement velocity. In addition, it is found that the transverse velocity of the trailing edge increases the vortex strength linearly. This effect is important in the context of the fluid-structure interaction, since it implies that the velocity of the hydrofoil trailing edge increases the fluctuating forces on the body. It is also demonstrated that cavitation developing in the vortex street cannot be considered as a passive agent for the turbulent wake flow. In fact, for fully developed cavitation, the vortex shedding frequency increases up to 15%, which is accompanied by the increase of the vortex advection velocity and reduction of the streamwise vortex spacing. In addition, a significant increase of the vortex-induced vibration level is found at cavitation onset. These effects are addressed and thought to be a result of the increase of the vorticity by cavitation.