SUPERCAVITATION SEMINAR REPORT 2010

1. INTRODUCTION

Supercavitation is a phenomenon which is used in underwater objects to decrease their

drag force. Before we study about supercavitation we should have a brief knowledge on
cavitation, as supercavitation uses the concept of cavitation.

1.1 Cavitation

Cavitation is the formation of vapour bubbles of a flowing liquid in a region where the
pressure of the liquid falls below its vapour pressure. Cavitation is usually divided into
two classes of behavior: inertial (or transient) cavitation, and non inertial cavitation.
Inertial cavitation is the process where a void or bubble in a liquid rapidly collapses,
producing a shock wave. Such cavitation often occurs in control valves, pumps,
propellers, impellers, and in the vascular tissues of plants. Non-inertial cavitation is the
process in which a bubble in a fluid is forced to oscillate in size or shape due to some
form of energy input, such as an acoustic field. Such cavitation is often employed
in ultrasonic cleaning baths and can also be observed in pumps, propellers, etc.

Since the shock waves formed by cavitation are strong enough to significantly damage
moving parts, cavitation is usually an undesirable phenomenon. It is specifically avoided
in the design of machines such as turbines or propellers, and eliminating cavitation is a
major field in the study of fluid dynamics.

1.2 Supercavitation

Supercavitation is the use of cavitation effects to create a large bubble of gas inside
a liquid, allowing an object to travel at great speed through the liquid by being wholly
enveloped by the bubble. The cavity (the bubble) reduces the drag on the object, since
drag is normally about 1,000 times greater in liquid water than in a gas.

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It is a means of drag reduction in water, wherein a body is enveloped in a gas layer in

order to reduce skin friction. Depending on the type of supercavitating vehicle under
consideration, the overall drag coefficient can be an order of magnitude less than that of a
fully-wetted vehicle. Current applications are mainly limited to very fast torpedoes.

Fig. 1.1: Different stages of cavitation

Fig 1.2: A valve after cavitation effects

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2. APPLICATIONS

Supercavitation applications are restricted to underwater objects. This is because

cavitation is required for supercavitation to take place. The main applications are given
below.

2.1 Underwater gun systems

Presently, research is ongoing for the use of underwater gun systems as anti-mine and
anti-torpedo devices. An underwater gun system is typically composed of a magazine of
underwater projectiles, an underwater gun, a ship-mounted turret, a targeting system, and
a combat system.

Specifically, the targeting system identifies and localizes an undersea target. The combat
system provides the control commands to direct the ship-mounted turret to point the
underwater gun towards the undersea target. The underwater gun shoots the underwater
projectiles in which the underwater gun is designed for neutralization of undersea targets
at relatively long range

2.2 High Speed Supercavitating Vehicles

We investigate the control challenges associated with supercavitating vehicles using a

low order, longitudinal axis vehicle model. In the first part of the paper, a detailed
derivation of the equations of motion for the vehicle has been carried out using Newton’s
Laws. Various forces experienced by different regions of the vehicle have been
explained.

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This model draws heavily on the benchmark HSSV model proposed by Dzielski and
Kurdila (2003. It is observed that the linearization, even for a simple trim, straight-level
flight, can be very complicated. Thus, numerical methods are used for this purpose. A
controller is synthesized to track pitch angle, angular rate, vertical position and vertical
speed for the HSSV vehicle model using the proposed approach. Simulations of the
closed-loop vehicle are performed and analyzed in the fourth section of the paper.
Challenges facing the model creator and control designer are highlighted with respect to
actuator and sensor requirements, modeling issues, robustness and performance.

Fig 2.1: A Supercavitating Vehicle

2.3 Supercavitating propeller

The supercavitating propeller is a variant of a propeller for propulsion in water, where

supercavitation is actively employed to gain increased speed by reduced friction.

This article distinguishes a supercavitating propeller from a subcavitating propeller

running under supercavitating conditions. In general, subcavitating propellers become
less efficient when they are running under supercavitating conditions.

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The supercavitating propeller is being used for military purposes and for high
performance boat racing vessels as well as model boat racing. The supercavitating
propeller operates in the conventional submerged mode, with the entire diameter of the
blade below the water line. The blades of a supercavitating propeller are wedge shaped to
force cavitation at the leading edge and avoid water skin friction along the whole forward
face. The cavity collapses well behind the blade, which is the reason the supercavitating
propeller avoids the erosion damage due to cavitation that is a problem with conventional
propellers.

Fig 2.2: A supercavitating propeller

2.4 Supercavitating torpedo

The nose of a supercavitating torpedo uses gas nozzles that continually expel an envelope
of water vapor around the torpedo as it speeds through the ocean. This bubble of gas--a
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'super cavity'--prevents the skin of the torpedo from contacting the water, eliminating
almost all drag and friction and allowing the projectile to slide seamlessly through the
water at great velocity.

Some people have described supercavitating torpedoes as the first true underwater
missiles. The first such weapon in this class, the Shkval ("Squall"), was in development
by the Soviet Union throughout the latter half of the Cold War but was not recognized in
the West until the 1990s. Using powerful solid rocket motors, the Shkval is capable of
speeds exceeding 230 mph, over four times the velocity of most conventional torpedoes.
The Shkval also has a reported 80% kill rate at ranges of up to 7000 meters.

Fig 2.3: A shkval torpedo

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3. FORCES ACTING ON THE BODY

Underwater vehicles such as torpedoes and submarines are limited in maximum speed by
the considerable drag produced by the flow friction on the hull skin. Speeds of 40 m/s (75
knots) are considered very high; most practical systems are limited to less than half this
figure. While low speed is advantageous for acoustics and hydrodynamic efficiency,
some special applications requiring high speed cannot be realized using conventional
hydrodynamics. When a body moves through water at sufficient speed, the fluid pressure
may drop locally below a level which sustains the liquid phase, and a low-density
gaseous ‘cavity’ can form. Flows exhibiting cavities enveloping a moving body entirely
are called ‘supercavitating’, and, since the liquid phase does not contact the moving body
through most of its length, skin drag is almost negligible.

Several new and projected underwater vehicles exploit supercavitation as a means to

achieve extremely high submerged speeds and low drag (Miller, 1995). The sizes of
existing or notional supercavitating high-speed bodies range from that of bullets (for
example the Adaptable High-Speed Undersea Munition, AHSUM, or the projectiles of
the Rapid Airborne Mine Clearance System, RAMICS) to that of full scale heavyweight
torpedoes. Since the forces on a supercavitating body are so different from those on
conventional submerged bodies, hydrodynamic stability issues need to be completely
reassessed. In particular, since the body is wetted only for a tiny percentage of its length,
and since vapor dynamic forces are nearly negligible, the center of pressure will nearly
always be ahead of the center of mass, violating a standard principle of hydrodynamic
stability. Also, the body dynamics consist of at least two qualitatively different phases:
pure supercavitating flight, with only tip contact with the fluid, and states including
contacts with the fluid cavity walls. See Fig.3.1.

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In the case of pure supercavitating flight, forces produced by the flow of water vapor may
be a significant stabilizing effect at very high speeds. In the case that the body touches
the cavity walls, these contacts may be of long-duration (planing), or intermittent
(impacts). In this initial study, we consider intermediate speed regimes where long-
duration cavity contact (planing) does not occur, and where vapor dynamic forces are
negligible.

3.1 MODELING ASSUMPTIONS

Our model is based on the following assumptions:
1. The path of the center of mass of the body is assumed to be well-approximated by a
straight horizontal line L. This assumption neglects gravity, which is justified by
experimental work which showed no effect of gravity at speeds greater than 8 m/sec
2. The cavity is assumed to be approximately fixed in an orientation which remains
symmetric about the horizontal line L. This assumption represents a simplified model of
the real motion of the cavity which traces a serpentine form as the body oscillates about
the line of travel. The shape of the cavity is assumed to be a known function of the
forward velocity of the body, although the only place this is used is in determining when
the tail of the body touches the cavity walls, a condition referred to as ‘tailslap’. The
diameter of the cavity, and hence the clearance between the tail and the cavity walls, is
known to decrease as forward velocity decreases. This clearance is small compared to the
length of the body, permitting the assumption that the body axis B always makes a small
angle 0 with the cavity axis L.
3. The projectile is assumed to rotate about the nose tip. In fact, the center of rotation in a
quasi-inertial coordinate system translating with the body will not in general be at the
nose. However, if the wavelength of the disturbances in the fluid caused by tailslap is
much greater than the projectile length, then the geometry of tailslap dynamics can be
well approximated by assuming that the shape of the translating cavity is frozen and the
center of rotation is at the nose. This was the case in previous AHSUM tests, where the

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tailslap frequency was on the order of 600 Hz when the projectile speed was
approximately 600 m/s.

4. In the absence of impacts, we assume that the only force on the body is due to the fluid
force at the tip. Laboratory experiments have shown that the net tip force acts
approximately along the axis of the body B with zero net applied moment. The
magnitude F of the tip force is:

F = ;pAv2k cos 0 (1)

where p = density of water,
A = cross-sectional area of the tip,
21 = i = forward velocity,
k = a non dimensional constant,
6’ = angle between the body axis B and the cavity axis L.

5. We model the impact of the tail against the cavity walls (tailslap) as occurring
instantaneously with coefficient of restitution of unity.
6. In order to simplify the analysis we assume that the body is not spinning about its
symmetry axis B.

In view of the foregoing assumptions, the in-flight dynamics may be decomposed into a
translatory motion and rotation of the body. The translatory motion is uninfluenced by the
rotation of the body. The rotation of the body is influenced by the translatory motion
because the size of the cavity is dependent on the forward velocity, and this influences
the period of time between impacts.

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Fig 3.1: Schematic diagram of a supercavitating object

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4. UNDERWATER GUN SYSTEM

Presently, research is ongoing for the use of underwater gun systems as anti-mine and
anti-torpedo devices. An underwater gun system is typically composed of a magazine of
underwater projectiles, an underwater gun, a ship-mounted turret, a targeting system, and
a combat system.

Specifically, the targeting system identifies and localizes an undersea target. The combat
system provides the control commands to direct the ship-mounted turret to point the
underwater gun towards the undersea target. The underwater gun shoots the underwater
projectiles in which the underwater gun is designed for neutralization of undersea targets
at relatively long range.

Projectiles fired from underwater guns can effectively travel long distances by making
use of supercavitation. A typical supercavitating projectile is depicted in Fig 4.1.
Supercavitation occurs when the projectile travels through water at very high speeds and
a vaporous cavity forms at a tip of the projectile. With proper design, the vaporous cavity
can envelop an entire projectile. Because the projectile is not in contact with the water
(excluding at the tip and occasional collisions with the cavity wall, "tail slap"), the
viscous drag on the projectile is significantly reduced over a fully wetted operation.

Current projectiles lack propulsion in that the projectiles are instead launched from a gun
at high speeds (of the order of 1000 meters/second). The projectiles decelerate as they
travel downrange toward their targets, striking their target at velocities typically of 500
meters/second. It is possible to reduce the velocity needed for launch if the projectile is
provided with an on-board propulsion system and/or a drag reduction system.

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If a simple propulsion system is provided, the gun can launch the projectiles at their
cruise velocity and the propulsion system can maintain and carry the projectile to its
target at approximately the cruise velocity.

A related issue in projectile operation is the problem of speed and depth dependency of a
generated cavity. At launch, a cavity is formed, the size of which is a function of the
projectile speed and the cavitator size. As the projectile begins to travel down-range, the
projectile begins to slow down due to the drag generated at the tip of the projectile and
the cavity, that the projectile generates shrinks. The cavity continues to shrink as the
projectile decelerates until the cavity can no longer envelop the entire projectile.

Pressure also influences the size of the cavity. The size of the cavity is inversely
proportional to the ambient pressure. Consequently, projectiles cannot travel as far when
deep beneath the ocean surface as the projectiles can travel at very shallow depths.
The high ambient pressure of deep ocean depths can be compensated through the
injection of gas into the cavity. If gas is forced into the normally vaporous cavity, the
internal pressure of the cavity increases and the cavity grows.

It has been demonstrated that forward-directed jets from moving vehicles can produce
supercavities in a manner similar to a physical cavitator. The jet advances forward of the
vehicle to where a moving front is produced. The size and shape of the cavity are related
to the diameter of the forward-directed jet and the speed of the advancement of the front.

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.
Fig 4.1: An image of a bullet from an underwater gun

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5. SUPERCAVITATING TORPEDO

The nose of a supercavitating torpedo uses gas nozzles that continually expel an envelope
of water vapor around the torpedo as it speeds through the ocean. This bubble of gas--a
'super cavity'--prevents the skin of the torpedo from contacting the water, eliminating
almost all drag and friction and allowing the projectile to slide seamlessly through the
water at great velocity. Some people have described supercavitating torpedoes as the first
true underwater missiles.

The first such weapon in this class, the Shkval ("Squall"), was in development by the
Soviet Union throughout the latter half of the Cold War but was not recognized in the
West until the 1990s. Using powerful solid rocket motors, the Shkval is capable of speeds
exceeding 230 mph, over four times the velocity of most conventional torpedoes. The
Shkval also has a reported 80% kill rate at ranges of up to 7000 meters.

The US navy is seeking to build its own version of the Shkval, but one with a much
higher velocity. This is mostly in response to Russia selling stripped down versions of the
Shkval on the open international weapons market. However, a US combat-ready version
is not expected for at least another 10+ years.

The technology does have one great weakness--maneuverability. The bubble of water
vapor generated by the gas nozzles tends to become asymmetrical and breaks up along
the outer side of the turn if the torpedo alters its course significantly. At the speeds such a
torpedo would typically be travelling, the sudden re-assertion of water pressure and drag
on it could not only severely knock it off course, but may even rip the projectile apart.

A new, improved version of the Shkval has been reported in use by the Russian Navy,
one that can maneuver and track its intended target. However, it was also reported that in
order to do so, this improved Shkval had to slow down significantly once in the general
area of the target so it could scan and home in on its prey like a normal torpedo. While a

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genuine improvement, the true goal of current research is to have the torpedo maneuver
and home in on a target without the need to decrease its velocity. Both Russian and US
Navy researchers are striving toward this end.

One means of making sure the gas bubble does not wear down upon a turn would be by
having the gas-ejection nozzles pump more water vapor into the side of the bubble that's
on the outside of the turn, to provide the torpedo with a thick enough "buffer" for the turn
without any more parts of it exiting the cavity. Another option might be to magnetically
charge the vapor used in the torpedo’s bubble, and use a magnetic field to hold the bubble
cohesive while it turns.

Another weakness of the technology is that the Shkval is both very noisy and shows up
very readily on sonar. Whereas some long-range conventional torpedoes might be able to
stealth relatively close to their targets before going active, the target of a supercavitating
torpedo will know right away if they're in the bulls-eye. However, the supercavitating
torpedo may also be travelling fast enough to give its intended victim much less time to
take effective countermeasures.

A drawback that had been pointed out in several articles is that the Shkval and its peers
only have ranges of several kilometers, whereas a number of modern torpedoes, like the
US Mark 48, has a range of over 30 nautical miles. It’s possible that a US submarine
could just sit outside of Shkval-equipped submarine's range and pound on such an enemy
with impunity.

The downside to that strategy is, of course, that most subs are unlikely to be equipped
only with supercavitating projectiles. Like most modern combat subs, they will likely
carry a variety of different weapons for different purposes, and the Shkval will just be
one of the weapons it has in its arsenal. One can assume at long ranges they will likely
employ conventional torpedoes, but once within the effective kill-range of a Shkval, they
will use their supercavitating weapons to fullest possible effect. Also, it is almost a

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certainty that all parties engaging in research are striving to increase the weapon's range
as much as possible.

Submarines, even with minimal warning, can evade a supercavitating torpedo by blowing
some ballast and quickly ascending. However, an enemy submarine captain may
anticipate this, and may launch a second or even a third Shkval simultaneously, aimed
above the target submarine, in order to keep the enemy vessel from attempting this
maneuver.

Fig 5.1: A shkval torpedo

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6. HIGH SPEED SUPERCAVITATING VEHICLES

Recent investigations into high-speed underwater vehicles have focused attention on

providing vehicles which ride a cushion of air to achieve high speeds in water. For a
nominal prior art streamlined, fully-wetted underwater vehicle, 70% of the overall drag is
skin friction drag; the remainder is pressure or blockage drag. Supercavitation allows for
much higher speeds to be sustainable by eliminating, or drastically reducing, skin friction
drag at the higher speeds. The conditions for supercavitation require that enough energy
be put into the water to vaporize a given volume of water through which an object can
travel. This is done by accelerating fluid over a sharp edge, usually the nose of a vehicle,
such as a torpedo, so that the pressure drops below the vapor pressure of water. If the
speed of the object is not fast enough to travel through the vapor cavity before the cavity
collapses, artificial ventilation into the cavity can keep the cavity "open" until the object
moves past. When a cavity completely encapsulates an object, by vaporous and/or vented
cavitation, it is referred to as "supercavitation". The vehicle nose, or "cavitator", is the
only part of the object in constant contact with the water through which the vehicle
travels. The cavity closure is positioned behind the vehicle.

When the cavitator and artificial ventilation generate the necessary cavity properties, i.e.,
sufficient length and diameter of air cushion, it results in a larger air gap between the
vehicle and water than is otherwise necessary at the after end of the vehicle. The air, or
other selected gas, is drawn through the gap by a propulsion jet plume, and escapes into
the ambient water. It has been found desirable to minimize the downstream entrainment
effect of the propulsion plume, to thereby minimize loss of air and to increase life
expectancy of a reservoir of ventilation air on-board the vehicle.

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A supercavitating vehicle is an advanced concept for achieving very high speeds

underwater with significantly less drag than a conventional vehicle. The idea behind this
concept is the enshrouding of a vehicle moving through water in a gas cavity. A vehicle
is said to be supercavitating when the cavity extends from around the nose to just beyond
the tail of the vehicle. Part of the nose of the vehicle, called the cavitator–and, possibly,
some control fins–would be in wetted contact with liquid water, but the rest of the surface
of the vehicle would remain in contact with gas only (inside the cavity). The gas is much
lower in density and viscosity than the surrounding water. Depending on the design, the
gas could be water vapor, air, or something else. Due to the lower density and viscosity
of the gas, this conceptually results in significantly less drag than a similar, but fully
wetted vehicle.

Fig 6.1: Schematic diagram of a High speed supercavitating vehicle.

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7. SUPERCAVITATING PROPELLERS
The supercavitating propeller is a variant of a propeller for propulsion in water, where
supercavitation is actively employed to gain increased speed by reduced friction.

This article distinguishes a supercavitating propeller from a subcavitating propeller

running under supercavitating conditions. In general, subcavitating propellers become
less efficient when they are running under supercavitating conditions.

The supercavitating propeller is being used for military purposes and for high
performance boat racing vessels as well as model boat racing.

The supercavitating propeller operates in the conventional submerged mode, with the
entire diameter of the blade below the water line. The blades of a supercavitating
propeller are wedge shaped to force cavitation at the leading edge and avoid water skin
friction along the whole forward face. The cavity collapses well behind the blade, which
is the reason the supercavitating propeller avoids the erosion damage due to cavitation
that is a problem with conventional propellers.

An alternative to the supercavitating propeller is the surface piercing,

or ventilated propeller. These propellers are designed to intentionally cleave the water
and entrain atmospheric air to fill the void, which means that the resulting gas layer
surrounding the propeller blade consists of air instead of water vapour. Less energy is
thus used, and the surface piercing propeller generally enjoys lower drag than the
supercavitating principle. The surface piercing propeller also has wedge shaped blades,
and propellers may be designed that can operate in both supercavitating and surface
piercing mode.

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Fig 7.1: A supercavitating propeller

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8. CONCLUSION

Supercavitation is an upcoming phenomenon which is used in underwater applications

like torpedoes, propellers etc. It is used for reducing the drag force in these objects. The
technology has advanced to an extent that it can be used in many other applications. And
in coming years we might see underwater vehicles used as a means of efficient transport.

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9. REFERENCE

WEBSITES
1. www.wikipedia.org/supercavitation
2. www.wikipedia.org/supercavitating_propeller

JOURNALS
1. Proceedings of DETC’97
1997 AS M E Design Engineering Technical Conferences
September 14-17, 1997, Sacramento, California

2. Supercavitating propellers
by A S Achkinasze
Ship Theory Department, Saint-Petersburg State Marine Technical University
3, Lotsmanskaya Street, Saint-Petersburg 190008, Russia

3. Model-Based Feedback Control of High-speed Supercavitating Vehicles

Ziyao Cao
College of Marine Engineering
Northwestern Poly technical University
Xi’an 710072, China

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