An experimental and numerical study of the vortices generated by hydrofoils

The article presents the results of the research project concerning the process of formation of the tip vortices shed from hydrofoils of different geometry in different flow conditions. Three hydrofoils resembling the contemporary marine propeller blades have been selected for the study. The experimental part of the project consisted of the LDA measurements of the velocity field in three cross-sections of the vortex generated by the hydrofoils in the cavitation tunnel. The numerical part of the project consisted of calculations of the corresponding velocity field by means of three computer codes and several selected turbulence models. The comparative analysis of the experimental and numerical results, leading to the assessment of the accuracy of the numerical methods, is included.