Title: Computational analysis of high speed super-cavitating projectiles for reduction of hydrodynamic drag using cavitator optimisation

Authors: Rohini Dharmaraj; Amarkarthik Arunachalam; Sivaraj Gurunath; Haran Pranatharthy Athmanathan

Addresses: Department of Aeronautical Engineering, Bannari Amman Institute of Technology, Sathyamangalam, Erode – 638401, India ' Department of Aeronautical Engineering, Bannari Amman Institute of Technology, Sathyamangalam, Erode – 638401, India ' Department of Aeronautical Engineering, Bannari Amman Institute of Technology, Sathyamangalam, Erode – 638401, India ' Department of Aeronautical Engineering, Park College of Engineering and Technology, Kaniyur, Coimbatore, 641659, India

Abstract: The goal of the paper is the computational analysis of cavitator shape with respect to the forebody of the projectile, which recommends the supercavitation phenomenon. The main target is to provide a phase-changing mechanism for two-phase fluid flow simulation. By employing ANSYS Fluent for disk cavitator, a steady and incompressible two-phase fluid has been analysed, and during the simulation, cavitation is observed. For the designed geometry of the forebody of the projectile, multiphase flow has been chosen, for varying cavitation number of 0.1-0.01, to optimise the disk cavitator's diameter to begin an effective creation of supercavity. The computational analysis of the result displays about the cavity formation, cavity growth, cavity body, and drag prediction for the projectile. To optimise the cavitator diameter, which plays a key role in the formation of supercavitation, 3 mm cavitator disk diameter with a disk to projectile diameter ratio of 0.375 generates the minimum hydrodynamic drag.

Keywords: super-cavitation projectile; disk cavitator; hydrodynamics; skin friction drag; multiphase flow.

DOI: 10.1504/PCFD.2025.143728

Progress in Computational Fluid Dynamics, An International Journal, 2025 Vol.25 No.1, pp.1 - 15

Received: 23 Aug 2023
Accepted: 13 Apr 2024
Published online: 06 Jan 2025 *

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