Describe the effect of cavitation’s on the propeller blades.

 cavitation is the formation and dissolution of vapor-filled voids (vapor

bubbles) in liquid mediums.
 
Because a ship’s propeller rotates through the water at an angle of attack,
a pressure side and a suction side are created on each of the propeller’s
blades.
The faster the blades cut through the water, the lower the pressure on the
suction side of the blades becomes.
At a certain speed, the pressure on the suction side is so low that the
water flowing over that area evaporates, forming vapor bubbles or voids.
This happens because at "normal" air pressure of 1013.25 hPa, water
evaporates at 100 ° C.
At a higher pressure, the evaporation temperature is higher, and
respectively lower at a lower pressure.
Thus, in this case water starts boiling and evaporates at a pressure of
0.023bar at a temperature of 20 ° C.
 
Going into more detail, when the local pressure decreases below the vapor
pressure, water evaporates, a cavitation bubble forms, grows larger and
gets transported with the flow to a region with a higher pressure.
At this point the bubble stops growing and when the local pressure exceeds
the vapor pressure, vapor condenses starting from the wall of the bubble.
Eventually, the surface of the bubble starts to break down in its weakest
spot and the bubble implodes.
During this implosion, the water flows back into the space to fill the
collapsed void whereby pressure surges arise that can have orders of
magnitude of several hundred MPa.
This process creates pressure waves with high pressure peaks.
If the vapor bubbles are in the vicinity or directly on top of a solid wall
surface, such as propeller blades, the implosion produces a liquid microjet,
which exerts high stresses onto the surface.
The sudden release of energy causes pressure loads on the surface,
which create crater-shaped material erosion in the propeller blades.

In addition to the erosion, the layer of bubbles packed onto the surface of
the propeller blades makes  them "thicker". This increases resistance, as
the blades move through the water, which in return decreases the
performance of the propeller. Last but not least, cavitation can also cause
loud popping noises and vibrations, which further affect ships and those
travelling on them.
 
The main causes of cavitation are unevenness in the leading edge of a
blade, too much curvature of the blade, excessive sharpness of blade
edges, or poor finishing of the blade surfaces.

As the propeller turns it absorbs the torque developed by the engine at given revolutions i.e., the
delivered horsepower – and converts that to the thrust which, in turn, pushes the vessel through
the water.

 According to Bernoulli’s law the passage of a hydrofoil (propeller blade section) through the
water causes a positive pressure on the face of the blade and a negative pressure on its back.

It is the resolution of the pressures that results in the torque requirement and the thrust
development of the propeller.

The negative pressure causes any gas in solution in the water to evolve into bubbles similar to
those found when opening a bottle of lemonade or champagne.

These bubbles collapse and can cause hammer like impact loads on the blades often in excess of
7 kg/cm2. It is the collapse of these bubbles that results in the observed damage to the propeller
blade surfaces.

The ratio of the absorbed power or the delivered thrust to the total blade area of the propeller is
called, respectively, the power and the thrust loading.

If either of these exceeds a certain value which depends upon a complex relationship between
the propeller type, the flow in which it works and its mean depth below the water relative to its
diameter then the flow pattern of the water over the propeller blades breaks down causing a
severe loss of thrust and, eventually, physical damage to the surface of the propeller blades and,
also, the rudder and local steelwork of the vessel’s hull.

That flow breakdown is called cavitation and is strictly analogous to the water hammer often
heard in old plumbing systems.

Cavitation is a highly complex phenomenon and the pitting damage it causes usually – but not
necessarily – appears on the back of the blade following a clear radial pattern.

It can also appear as similar damage on the driving face of the propeller in which case, almost
certainly, a further factor has entered the problem in the form of an incorrect pitch distribution
along the length of the blade.
The effects of cavitation including loss of speed and damage to the propeller blades can be
minimised by ensuring that the propeller has sufficient blade area relative to the area of the
circle described by the propeller blade tips.

It is often said that cavitation is analogous to boiling with the former taking place at constant
ambient temperature and the latter usually at constant ambient pressure. While the destructive
potential of collapsing vapour bubbles there are also important issues of noise and vibration
due to the radiating pressures involved and has to be considered and taken into account.

The phenomena experienced in cavitation attack are usually found to be a function of the type of
cavitation met, its proximity to the water surface and the rate of change of the cavity’s volume.

The the water cavities violently collapse, the local temperature in the vicinity of the cavity may
also change.

Experimentally it has been found that with mild steel temperatures near the cavity have locally
risen to as high as 400°C when the specimen has been deeply submerged in water with a
constant ambient temperature of only 25°C.

Careful examination of the metal surface in way of severe cavitation damage may also reveal
shades of colour due to the metal being tempered. Different metals have different resistances to
attack from cavitation.
When a vessel suffers propeller cavitation the material’s surface is subjected to a continuous
bombardment of impacts from a fluctuating pressure field.

The propeller’s material is ductile at normal sea water temperature and, usually, the first sign of
a problem is the so-called orange peel effect where the surface suffers ductile deformation
leaving it looking like the surface of the familiar fruit.

After that preliminary stage and depending upon the severity of the attack, damage may either
cease or continue.

Micro-hardness testing of both damaged and undamaged blades shows that, under conditions
of cavitation attack, the material in the layers immediately below the surface work hardens and,
therefore, becomes brittle.

The tests show that, for undamaged blades, there is a relatively minor alteration in hardness just
below the surface probably due to the manufacturing and finishing processes.

On the blade surfaces that have suffered cavitation damage, however, a rapid change in
hardness can be measured in the two millimetres or so closest to the area of cavitation attack

. Experiments also show that a major influence on the rate of erosion and damage growth is the
local electro-potential of the material.

There are different patterns of propeller cavitation that can occur on a marine propeller as
illustrated in Figure 1 and these are usually grouped as:
• tip vortex cavitation
• sheet cavitation
• cloud cavitation
• bubble cavitation
• root cavitation
• face cavitation
• boss vortex cavitation

Some of these forms are relatively benign but others can be very aggressive in their effect on the
propeller’s material.

Tip vortex propeller cavitation is due to low pressure within the vortices shed at the blade tips.

Boss or hub vortex cavitation is usually due to a high angle of incidence between the direction of
flow of the water and the blade leading edge in way. It can result in the outer edge of the blade
looking a bit moth eaten. That form of cavitation is usually the first to show and is strongly
influenced by, inter alia, the radial distribution of the propeller’s loading, the nature and variation
of the vessel’s effective wake field in which the propeller operates and the local design of the
blade tip. The latter is particularly true of propellers operating in Kort nozzles. When the
propeller has a high or sometimes even a moderate degree of skew, vortices can also appear on
the outer regions of the blades leading edge which can interact often quite aggressively with the
ordinary tip vortex. The vortices can often collapse on the leading edge of the rudder or rudder
horn causing severe erosion and pitting damage there. The author remembers one case where,
after a short time in service, a line of deep pitting appeared on all four blades of the starboard
propeller of a twin screw vessel while the port propeller was left undamaged. The damage was
eventually traced to a vortex running off a padeye that had inadvertently been left welded to the
shell.

Blade sheet cavitation occurs when large suction pressures build up near the leading edge of the
blade resulting in the back of the blade being covered with a sheet of bubbles and is largely a
function of the angle of attack of the propeller blade sections to the varying wake field
encountered as the propeller rotates.

The greatest pressure reductions occur on the back of the blade and this is where most sheet
and bubble cavitation takes place and high tip speeds increase the possibility of such
cavitation. If the sheet is relatively stable then damage to the blades is less likely than if the sheet
demonstrates any form of instability.

Cloud cavitation is frequently found close to the collapse area of sheet cavitation and is
extremely aggressive due to the damaging effects of the collapse of large numbers of bubbles
and should always be treated with caution and, where possible, eliminated.

Bubble cavitation usually occurs at mid chord and is usually associated with too high a curvature
or camber of the blade sections. It can be eliminated, if its presence can be suspected, in the
design stage.

Figure 2 shows a typical pressure

regime around a marine propeller blade section
Root cavitation may appear at different times in the propeller’s rotation if the circulation round
the root is sufficiently strong and can be sufficiently aggressive to cause erosion damage to the
boss. When the root vortices have passed down stream beyond the propeller they unite into the
boss vortex and often appear in the form of a stranded rope with the number of strands equal
to the number of blades. If, as is usual on single screw vessels, the rudder lies immediately abaft
the propeller the rope of bubbles can collapse causing severe damage to the leading edge of the
rudder or rudder post.

Face propeller cavitation occurs on the driving face of the propeller and is often due to an
incorrect pitch distribution along the length of the blade resulting in the tip pitch being too small
and the blade sections developing a negative angle of attack. Its results are frequently found on
controllable pitch units. On one cast iron propeller of the author’s knowledge such face
cavitation resulted in a hole right through each of the four blades through which it was possible
to pass a man’s hand to shake hands with another man on the other side of the propeller. In the
past this form of cavitation was usually considered to be very dangerous but recent research
suggests that that is not necessarily so. Nevertheless, where possible, it should either be avoided
or relieved by suitable design.

An associated phenomenon is called propeller-hull cavitation and sometime occurs at slow

speed high load conditions such as when the vessel is accelerating from a dead slow condition. It
is due to the fact that, under such conditions, the propeller sometime cannot draw enough water
from ahead to satisfy its flow need and, instead pulls it in from astern. The region most affected
is ahead of the propeller under the sternframe arch and the phenomenon may result in small
areas of erosion and pitting on the hull. The collapse of the bubbles in the blade tip and root
vortices can often lead to cavitation damage in the form of pitting on the leading edge of the
rudder. When on trials, if the propeller is cavitating badly the resulting noise sounds like gravel
being forcibly thrown against the underside of the hull.

A propeller is said to be fully cavitating when the whole of the back is covered in sheet cavitation.
This phenomenon is also called super cavitation and is a whole new ball game.
 
 

Supercavitation – How to use Cavitation as an Advantage

 
Using the principles of cavitation, an object or a certain area of the object
moving through water can be purposefully enclosed in a bubble. As already
mentioned above, the bubble then reduces the direct contact of the object
with the water, resulting in lower hydrodynamic drag and allowing the
object to move faster. The bubble is either created as a natural effect from
the shape of the object travelling through the water or alternatively, through
a gas source on the inside of the object.
 
First experiments with supercavitation took place during the 1940s in the
Soviet Union. The concept was eventually applied to develop a
supercavitating torpedo launched in 1977, known as the VA-111 Shkval.
The Shkval was designed with a flat circular nose, resembling a disk. The
edge of the flat disc caused water to swerve to the side, therewith creating
a supercavitation bubble.
 

Nose of the Soviet VA-111 Shkval Supercavitating Torpedo

 
 
Since then, other attempts have been made to apply supercavitation to
propellers, submarines, and ship hulls. Two major challenges have always
stood in the way of past efforts, though: speed and maneuverability. In
order to create such a bubble around the nose of the object, the object
must already be travelling through the water at a certain minimum speed.
An even higher speed, approximately 40 knots, needs to be maintained  to
keep the bubble from imploding, which is difficult to achieve in practice.
Maneuvering the object further complicates implementation, since  the
traditional rudder of a ship or submarine is very likely to puncture the
surface of the bubble. This would cause a sudden increase in frictional
drag, or a collapse of the entire bubble, which at such high speeds could
result in the rudder breaking off.