Cavitation inception

Abstract

In this paper, some general aspects of cavitation inception in flowing situations are considered. Special attention is paid to the problem of the scale effects commonly encountered by design engineers in extrapolating results from model tests to prototype situations. Past experimental and theoretical investigations relevant to the problem are reviewed. Recent advances in the field, particularly the influence of viscous effects in cavitation inception on smooth bodies, are discussed. Several useful scaling laws which are primarily based on empirical correlations or physical observations are suggested. A specific criterion which could be used to assess the importance of thermodynamic effects in cavitation inception is indicated.