A supercavitating foil with a rounded leading edge and wetted upper side is presented. The characteristics of this foil are forecast in view of its being used on a three-speed hydrofoil craft. The real foil, whose angle of sweepback is left undefined, is simulated by a model of rectangular planform with aspect ratio two. Tests in a tunnel with a free surface show that a higher efficiency is obtained with this model than with a supercavitating foil with nonwetted upper side. Comparison with previous results related to a cambered parabolic foil demonstrates a much wider range of stability at top speed. The improvement is probably due to the use of a light, well-distributed specific load. The importance of this improvement, however, poses acutely the problem of the similarity concerning the area of stability.

Keywords:
upper side, free surface, wetted upper side, ventilation number, lower side, marine transportation, two-dimensional flow, incidence, three-dimensional flow, relative thickness
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1979. The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers
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