Supercavitation and Aerospace Technology in the Development of High-Speed Underwater Vehicles

In this paper, the phenomenon of supercavitation is presented. Supercavitatio n is the enclosure of a submerged body by a large bubble or cavity of water vapor. At high enough speeds, as water flows over a submerged body, the dynamic pressure drops to the vapor pressure of water. Vaporization occurs and the body travels inside a ga seous cavity. Since the viscosity of the vapor is so much lower than that of water, the drag is greatly reduced, and much higher speeds are attainable.