Rudder gap cavitation: Fundamental understanding and its suppression devices

With the increasing size and speed of cargo ships, which results in high speed flow in propeller slipstream, cavitation is frequently observed on and around the rudder system. Among the various types of cavitation on the rudder system, the rudder gap cavitation is the most difficult one to control and suppress. For the development of rudder gap cavitation suppression devices, both experimental and numerical analyses of the physical phenomenon are warranted. In the present study, experiments of the incipient cavitation and pressure measurement were carried out for typical cargo ship rudder sections with and without the suppression devices, which were suggested by the author. The experiments were simulated using computational fluid dynamics tools and the results were compared in terms of the cavitation inception and surface pressure distribution. Fundamental understanding of the rudder gap cavitation inception was obtained along with its relevance to the surface pressure distribution. It is confirmed that the gap flow blocking devices effectively suppress the rudder gap cavitation and, at the same time, augment lift.