Impact of CFD simulation parameters in prediction of ventilated flow on a surface-piercing hydrofoil

This article discusses numerical prediction of ventilated flows around the surface-piercing hydrofoil. A ventilated cavity is developed on the hydrofoil surface and the growth of the cavity is uncontrolled, which can have harmful effects as it leads to changes in the lift and unexpected loads. The occurrence of ventilation is computed by a Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes solver based on the Finite Volume Method and the Volume of Fluid free surface capturing. The impact of numerical parameters on the ventilation is investigated by testing various momentum, gradient, and interface-capturing schemes, turbulence intesities, acceleration and time stepping scenarios, for 10 Froude numbers and 2 angles of attack. The analysis shows that simulations are consistent and comparable with the experimental data, if proper free surface capturing scheme and very low Courant numbers are used.