Effect of Tripping Laminar-to-Turbulent Boundary Layer Transition on Tip Vortex Cavitation

It is by now well established that, for Reynolds numbers larger than those corresponding to the conditions of laminar-to-turbulent boundary layer transition over a flat plate (≈0.5 × 106) and for a variety of wing shapes and cross sections, desinent cavitation numbers divided by the Reynolds number to the power 0.4 correlate with the square of the lift coefficient. In the case of foils having an NACA 16020 cross section and for Reynolds numbers below or close to those leading to transition over a flat plate, the results are very much different from those obtained for well-developed turbulent boundary layer conditions. Thus, a research program has been conducted in order to investigate the effect of boundary layer manipulation on cavitation occurrence. It consisted in determining the critical cavitation numbers, the lift coefficients, and the velocities in the tip vortex of foils having either a smooth surface or tripping roughness (promoters) near the leading edge. Tests were performed using elliptical foils of NACA 16020 cross section having the promoters extending over 60, 80 and 90 percent of the semi-span. The region near the tip was kept smooth in order to distinguish laminar-to-turbulent transition effects from tip vortex cavitation inhibition effects associated with artificial roughness at the wing tip. Results obtained at very low Reynolds numbers, ≥ 0.24 × 106, with the foil tripped on both the pressure and suction sides collapse rather well with those previously obtained at much larger Reynolds numbers with the smooth foil, and correlate with the square of the lift coefficient. The differences between the tripped and smooth foil results are due to the modification of the lift characteristics through the modification of the wing boundary layer, as shown by flow visualization studies, and as a result of the local tip vortex intensity.