Model Scale Investigation of Blade Root Cavitation Erosion on a Set of Marine Propellers

The present study is focused on the experimental analysis of the erosion caused by cavitation occurring at the blade root for a set of three model scale marine propellers. The experimental method is based on the adoption of soft paint technique together with cavitation observations. Cavitation dynamics and erosion damage patterns are recorded using three standard cameras and one high speed camera. Standard cameras are fixed on the top of test section to continuously monitor the effect of erosion damage on the blade root, the high-speed camera has been placed at different positions to investigate detailed evolution and collapse of bubbles on pressure and suction side of propeller blades. The soft paint test damage patterns have been simultaneously analysed with the high- speed videos, and results showed remarkable agreement between the occurrence of damage on the blades and the bubble collapse of cavitation. The damage pattern and cavities collapse seem to be inversely related with the inception time of damage.