SUPERCAVITATION:

SUBMERINE
Seminar by
Siddharth Sanghavi
Exam No.:T120380990

Guided by
Prof. N. R. Anekar
Department of Mechanical Engineering

MIT College of Engineering, Pune

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2015-16

Contents
1. Introduction: Objective
2. Literature Survey
3. Concept of Super-cavitation
4. Design Parameters
5. Super-cavity in Submarine
6. Case study
7. Discussion
References
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Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT College of Engineering, Pune

1. Introduction
1.1 Need:
1. Water limits even natures strategies, and the fastest bird
moves twice as quickly as the fastest fish.
2. Conclusion to all this is that supersonic underwater travel was
just a dream for human. Well, this gives birth to whole new
concept called Super cavity

1.2 Objective:
3. To achieve supersonic speeds underwater.
4. Get relief from the limitations arrived in the entry of projectile
into water.
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2. Literature Survey
1. During the entry of objects into water, several fluid dynamics
phenomena, such as air and vapor cavities and jet formation,
occur that contribute to the bouncing behavior of the body.
2. To perform water entry tests, a water tank is designed and
installed. Canal dimensions are such that the effect of walls on
the flow field is small, i.e. a cross section of 1.2 by 1.2 m and 9
m in length. A launching system provides different model
velocities by variation of the gun powder. Fig. 2.3 depicts a
typical test set-up, including a high speed camera (up to
36,000frame/s)
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3. Concepts
3.1 Cavitation:
Cavitation is the process of formation of water bubbles when pressure
of water falls below its vapor pressure and the sudden collapsing of
these vapor bubbles in the region of high pressure.

When it acts on propellers, cavitation not only causes damages but also
decreases efficiency.
When propeller induces significant cavitation it has to push against
combination of water and water vapour, causing blades to spin &
run inefficiently.
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Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT College of Engineering, Pune

Formation of cavities
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Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT College of Engineering, Pune

3.2 Super cavitation:

Cavitation problem becomes blessings when it comes under
condition called Super cavitation.
Super cavitation is use of the cavitation effects to produce a bubble
inside liquid large enough to encompass an object travelling
through the liquid.
Greatly reducing skin friction drag on the object & enabling
achievements of very high speeds.
In Super cavitation the small gas bubbles produced due to
cavitation expand and combine to form one large, stable and
predictable bubble around the super cavitating object.
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Nose

Concept of super cavity.

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Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT College of Engineering, Pune

4. Design Parameters
The key concept in the
designing is the nose of
projectile.
Nose should be flat rather
than streamlined.
The dimensions should be
such that it should create
enough cavity to enclose
the projectile.
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Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT College of Engineering, Pune

4.1 The Nose:

The nose is the only part which is in contact with water, it is
subjected to extremely high stresses.
In order to withstand these high stresses the material should be
hard enough as well as light in weight.
For instance composites of Aluminum honey comb structured
material can be used.

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By achieving speed up to 180km/hr., the cavity begins to enlarge.

Once the supercavity is produced drag reduces 200,000 times,
giving supersonic speed

4.2 Propelling the object:

When a supercavitating projectile is enclosed by a cavity
conventional propulsion techniques cannot be used. A rocket engine
is a solution. As the cavity encloses the vessel it is similar as flying
in the air. Therefore by using a rocket engine high speeds can be
attained which in turn helps for retaining the cavity.
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Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT College of Engineering, Pune

When the projectile is fired from above water it pulls along with it a
ventilated cavity which is unstable but as super-cavitation starts this
ventilated cavity is converted to vapor cavity. Then the rocket motor is
fired and using the exhaust the cavity can be stabilized.

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5. Super-cavitation in Torpedo
5.1 Concept:
To create a bubble which should include object inside it, there are two
ways:
1) Natural (Vapour)
2) Ventilated
In natural type cavitation the cavity is created by the speed of
projectile with the help of nose. It also called as pure cavitation
formed only by the number of smaller cavities.
In ventilated type, however, gases are released into bubble by
supercavitating object.
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Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT College of Engineering, Pune

5.2 Principle:
It works on principle of achieving high speed to create considerable
pressure difference and to pour gas into it to form a predictable
cavity.
The main principle behind supercavitation is Bernoullis theorem
which is as follows:
1 2
P v gh constant
2
Thus, if potential energy is kept constant, then with increase in dynamic
head i.e. kinetic energy, pressure starts decreasing and if this decreasing
pressure falls below or up to vapor pressure of surrounding liquid, as a
result it forms air bubbles and this triggers the supercavitation process.
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X-position of the spherical nose model

versus time with entrance velocity and
entry angle 29.15 m/s and 25.157,
respectively.
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Trajectory of the spherical nose

model with entrance velocity and
entry angle 63.2 m/s and 7.5,
respectively.

Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT College of Engineering, Pune

Trajectory of the conical nose

Entrance angle 17.3 and entrance model with entrance velocity,
velocity 11.4 m/s.
31.5 m/s.
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Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT College of Engineering, Pune

6. Case Study

Shkvall torpedo
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7. Disscusion
As is the case of most cutting edge technologies,
supercavitation is largely concentrated around military developments
and applications. However this technology is sure to revolutionize
underwater weaponry and travel. Under water bullets have already
broken the sound barrier in water. The day is not far away when
pencil shaped, rocket powered vehicles break the sound barrier
underwater.

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Department of Mechanical Engineering,MIT College of Engineering,Pune

References
Reference Books
1. Collier, G. J. and Thome, J. R., Convective boiling and condensation, 3rd ed.,
Oxford University Press, UK,1996, pp. 110 112.
Papers from Journal or Transactions
2. Jung, D. S. and Radermacher, R., Transport properties and surface tension of
pure and mixed refrigerants, ASHRAE Trans, 1991, 97 (1), pp. 90 98.
3. Bansal, P. K., Rupasinghe, A. S. and Jain, A. S., An empirical correction for
sizing capillary tubes, Int.Journal of Refrigeration, 1996, 19 (8), pp.497
505.
Papers from Conference Proceedings
4. Colbourne, D. and Ritter, T. J., Quantitative assessment of flammable
refrigerants in room air conditioners,Proc. of the Sixteenth International
Compressor Engineering Conference and Ninth International Refrigeration
and Air Conditioning Conference, Purdue University, West Lafayette,
Indiana, USA, 2002, pp. 34 40.
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Reports, Handbooks etc.

1. United Nations Environmental Programme, Report of the Refrigeration, Air
Conditioning and Heat Pumps,Technical Option Committee, 2002,
Assessment - 2002. ASHRAE Handbook: Refrigeration, 1994 (Chapter 44)
Patent
2. Patent no, Country (in parenthesis), date of application, title, year.
Internet
3. www.(Site) [Give full length URL]

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Vision and Mission of the Department

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THANK YOU

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Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT College of Engineering, Pune