Effects of Three Turbulence Models on the Cavitation Performance Evaluationfor Ducted Propellers

The cavitation performance of ducted propellers is simulated by employing a Rayleigh-Plesset cavitation model and three turbulence models resorting to the computational fluid dynamics（CFD）software. A comparison between the calculated results and experimental data reveals the detailed effects of different turbulence models and cavitation numbers. The results show that the k ω model has better convergence and is more stable and accurate than the k ε model and the RNG k ε model，which suggests the k ω model to be the most ideal in evaluating the cavitation performance of ducted propellers. However， when the cavitation number or the advance coefficient is small，the cavitation will become relatively severe and the calculation errors may increase for the k ω model，since the k ω model is more sensitive to the cavitation number compared with the other two. Thus，a more accurate cavitation model or a better quality of the mesh is required.