Flow-Induced Vibration of Flexible Hydrofoil Within Cavitating Turbulent Flow

TL;DR

This study investigates how flow-induced vibrations and cavitation phenomena interact in a flexible hydrofoil using advanced simulations, revealing mechanisms behind propeller singing noise and the effects of cavitation on structural vibrations.

Contribution

It introduces a coupled simulation approach combining LES, cavitation modeling, and structural analysis to explore hydroelastic interactions in cavitating turbulent flows.

Findings

Tip vortex shedding causes low-frequency noise peaks.

Cavitation induces significant hydrofoil vibrations.

Vibrations and cavitation jointly influence underwater noise characteristics.

Abstract

The flow-induced vibration and cavitation dynamics of three-dimensional flow past a cantilever flexible hydrofoil are investigated using a large eddy simulation (LES) model, a homogeneous mixture cavitation model and the structural modes superposition method. The present work aims to explore a potential mechanism responsible for a propeller singing behavior, and thus focuses on the synchronized hydroelastic coupling among the pressure pulsation inside the flow field, the cavitation generation and the structural vibration. To begin, we validate the tip vortex dynamics of a flexible hydrofoil against the available experimental. Our results demonstrate that the tip vortex shedding and the blade vibration are responsible for the intense peak in the low-frequency tonal components of the noise source, and the trailing-edge vortex shedding induces broadband components. Additionally, the generation of sheet cavitation induces considerable synchronized hydrofoil vibration (subjected to a flutter-like response), and affects the pressure fluctuations in the flow field, which further dominate the features of the underwater noise sources. It is suggested that the cavitation behavior and structural vibrations co-dominate the characteristics of singing noise from a propeller blade.