Hydrodynamics Analysis on the High-Speed Surface Vehicle with Super-Cavitating Hydrofoils

Expeditiously transferring personnel or cargo between seashores or vessels becomes an imperative requirement in ocean engineering. In this paper a novel high-speed surface vessel which has two symmetrical under-water torpedo-shaped sub-water bodies connected to the hull with two couples of super-cavitating hydrofoils, which are located in series along the axis of the body, has been proposed. By using supercavitation technology in the sub-water body and the hydrofoil, this vessel could achieve extreme high speed. Considering the sophisticated configuration and the complex flow field around the vessel, this paper has investigated on the hydrodynamics of this vehicle through numerical simulation. The numerical method which couples the Schnerr and Sauer cavitation model into the mixture multiphase model has been validated by the case of two-dimensional super-cavitating hydrofoil. Then simulation has been carried out for this novel vehicle with different wetting depths. Based on analysing details of the flow structure, the there-dimensional effect for the super-cavitating hydrofoil, as well as the interaction between the fore and the aft hydrofoils has been revealed. Then the hydrodynamics curves for both the fore and the aft hydrofoils are obtained, providing guidance for the design of the serial hydrofoils. Furthermore, hydrodynamic analysis has been made for the sub-water body under the effect of hydrofoils. This work may give meaningful references for the design of high-speed surface vehicles.