Inception of Cavitation From a Backward Facing Step

Cavitation inception measurements are reported for flow past a downstream facing step with the height of the step varying from about 0.4 to 5 percent of the forebody diameter. The forebody was a 49 mm hemispherical nose and σ_i values were found to be very strong function of the height of the step. In addition, σ_i values were found to depend on whether the boundary layer approaching the step was laminar or turbulent. Generally σ_i values for turbulent case were lower.