Numerical study of cavitation in the wake of a hypervelocity underwater projectile

The focus of this study is on cavitation in the wake of a high velocity und erwater projectile. A physical model based on the Euler equations is presen ted in terms of two-phase mixture properties. Mathematical closure is achie ved by providing equations of state for the possible thermodynamic states: compressible liquid, compressible two-phase mixture, and compressible pure vapor. For the operating conditions studied here, all states are subcritica l. The proposed model is solved using a hybrid computational scheme develop ed to accurately resolve property profiles across discontinuities. The mode l is validated with several one-dimensional test cases that have known anal ytic solutions. For modeling the hypervelocity underwater projectile, the m odel is shown to compute unsteady shockwave development as well as the proj ectile-wake cavitation zone. The model is then used to conduct a parametric study on the affect of flow and projectile properties on cavitation.