Object and purpose of research. This paper discusses cavitation erosion on propeller blades. The purpose of this work is to review and analyse modern studies on cavitation erosion, as well as to apply these research results for better under-standing of cavitation damage risk on full-scale propellers. Materials and methods. The paper reviews recent studies on cavitation erosion, as well as the author’s own findings in cavitation erosion on full-scale steel propellers, analyzing the energy needed to create cavitation damage of recorded size. This energy was calculated as per the model based on the results of metallurgical studies discussing the effect of shot blasting upon steel properties. Comparison of these results with those obtained as per classic formulae for the collapse energy of cavita-tion bubble made it possible to estimate the conditions of cavitation erosion on propeller blades. Main results. The review of recent studies on cavitation erosion has shown that current progress in the technologies of experimental studies and computer-based simulations made it possible to considerably improve the knowledge about cavitation erosion process as compared to the level of the 20th century. This review shows that cavitation erosion studies followed three practically independent paths: experimental studies and computer-based simulation of flow around propeller blades with locali-zation of peaks for one or several criteria reflecting the intensity of cavitation energy fluctuations; the studies intended to esti-mate the pressure exerted by collapsing cavitation bubbles and emerging cumulative jets; and finally, the studies on the proper-ties of materials affected by cumulative jets and collapsing bubbles. At this point, it would be practicable to merge these three paths using the results of full-scale cavitation erosion analysis for propellers. KSRC findings in cavitation damage of full-scale steel propeller has shown that cavitation damage recorded in these studies might occur due to a certain combination between the required energy, bubble-blade interaction pressure and the size of affect-ed area on steel blade surface, and this combination, in its turn, might take place when cavitation bubbles consisting of vapour fraction with partial air content hit the blade surface and collapse. Conclusion. This paper shows the capabilities of modern research methods in obtaining new data on the inception mecha-nism of cavitation erosion. Still, to develop the methods for prediction of cavitation erosion (in particular, on propellers), it is necessary to merge the results obtained in different branches of cavitation studies. The basis for this merging could become a power-based analysis of cavitation processes, with help of the cavitation erosion model suggested in this paper and based on the similarity between cavitation erosion and shot-blasting.
Detection of cavitation erosion for full scale ship propeller by paint coating method.