Study on the characteristic of a forced pitching supercavitating vehicle

During the cruising of a supercavitating vehicle, the relative motion between the supercavity and the vehicle has a significant effect on the stability of the supercavity and the trajectory of the vehicle. In this paper,periodically forced pitching of a supercavitating vehicle is investigated numerically by a dynamic mesh method.The simulated result of the flow field around a pitching ventilated supercavitating vehicle in a water tunnel is compared with the experimental result. The evolution of the cavity morphology, the pressure distribution and the hydrodynamics of the vehicle are in good agreement with the experimental data. The effect of different pitching amplitudes and frequencies is studied. Also, the effect of the tunnel wall and the bracing structure is analyzed.