Types of cavitation: Viscous effects on inception of sheet cavitation

 

Cavitation inception takes place when nuclei are exposed to a pressure lower than the critical pressure. But the minimum pressure around a foil or propeller blade occurs on or close to a solid surface, where a boundary layer exists. This boundary layer has an effect on the pressures encountered by the nuclei. These effects are summarized as viscous effects on cavitation inception, because the boundary layer is a viscous phenomenon.