Numerical investigation on the hydrodynamic characteristics of a marine propeller operating in oblique inflow

The hydrodynamic characteristics of a marine propeller operating in oblique inflow are investigated by using CFD method. Two propellers with different geometries are selected as the study subjects. RANS simulation is carried out for the propellers working at a wide range of advance coefficients and incidence angles. The effects of axial inflow and lateral inflow are demonstrated with the hydrodynamic force on the propeller under different working conditions. Based on the obtained flow field details, the hydrodynamic mechanism of propeller operating in oblique inflow is analyzed further. The trailing vortex wake of propeller is highly affected by the lateral inflow, resulting in the deflected development path and the circumferentially non-uniform structure, as well as the enhanced axial velocity in slipstream. Different flow patterns are observed on the propeller blade with the variation of circumferential position. Combined with the computed hydrodynamic forces and pressure distribution on propeller, the mechanism resulting in the increase of propulsive loads and the generation of propeller side force is explored. Finally, a systematic analysis is carried out for the propulsive loads and propeller side force as a function of axial and lateral advance coefficients. The major terms that play a dominant role in the modeling of propulsive loads and propeller side force are determined through the sensitivity analysis. This study provides a deeper insight into the hydrodynamic characteristics of propeller operating in oblique inflow, which is useful to the investigation of propeller performance during ship maneuvers.     

On the fluid structure interaction of a marine cycloidal propeller

Marine cycloidal propulsion system is efficient in maneuvering ships like tugs, ferries, etc. It is capable of vectoring thrust in all direction in a horizontal plane. When used in pair, the system enables a vessel to perform maneuvers like moving sideways, perform rotation about a point, i.e. turning diameter of its own length, etc. In this system, the propeller blades have to change their angle of attack at different angular position of the disc. Due to this reason, the inflow velocity vector to propeller blades changes continuously. The propeller blade oscillates about a vertical axis passing through its body and at the same time rotates about a point. Superposed on these motions is the dynamics of the ship on which the propulsion system is installed. This results in a formidable and challenging hydrodynamics problem. Each of the propeller blade sections could be considered as an aerofoil operating in combined heave and pitch oscillation mode. Due to the constantly varying inflow velocity, the hydrodynamic flow is unsteady. The unsteady hydrodynamic flow is simulated by incorporating the effect of shed vortices at different time instant behind the trailing edge. Due to the kinematics of the problem, the blade is subjected to higher structural deformation and vibration load. The structural deformation and vibration when coupled with the hydrodynamic loading add another level of complexity to the problem. In this paper, the variation of hydrodynamic load on the propeller blade due to steady and unsteady flow is compared. We also model the structural dynamics of the blade and study its effect on the hydrodynamic loading. Finally, we couple the structural dynamics with hydrodynamics loading and study its influence on the propeller blade for different operating regimes.     

Flow-induced vibration analysis of elastic propellers in a cyclic inflow: An experimental and numerical study

In this paper, the flow-induced vibrations of marine propellers in cyclic inflows are investigated both experimentally and numerically. A Laser-Doppler velocimetry (LDV) system is used to measure the axial flow velocity distributions produced by the seven-cycle wake screen in the water tunnel. A customized underwater slip ring and a single axis accelerometer sealed by silicon sealant are employed to measure the acceleration responses of rotating propeller blade. Numerical simulations of pressure fluctuations on the blades are performed using large eddy simulation (LES), while the forced vibrations of the propeller blades are obtained by a combined finite element and boundary element method. Experimental and numerical results are presented for two model propellers with the same geometries and different flexible properties, which show that the propeller blade vibrates at a frequency which is seven times as large as the axial passing frequency (APF) in the seven-cycle inflow. Moreover, the propeller blades are observed to resonance when the 7 APF excitation frequency is equal to the fundamental frequency of the propellers. The results indicate that both the inflow feature and the modal characteristic of blades contribute to flow-induced vibrations of elastic propellers.     

船舶螺旋桨尾流场的数值分析

利用基于速度势的低阶面元法计算船舶螺旋桨的尾流场。采用计算较为简捷的关于扰动速度势的基本积分微分方程，并采用双曲面形状的面凶以消除面元间的缝隙。Newton-Raphson迭代过程被用来在桨叶随边满足压力Kutta条件，使桨叶面上表面的压力在随边有良好的一致性。在计算面元的影响系数时，应用了Morino导出的解析计算公式，加快了数值计算的速度。从解面元法的基本积分方程得到的偶极强度和源汇强度，直接求得尾流场的速度分布。     

A reliable simulation for hydrodynamic performance prediction of surface-piercing propellers using URANS method

Surface Piercing Propellers (SPPs) are a particular kind of propellers which are partially submerged operating at the interface of air and water. They are more efficient than submerged propellers for the propulsion system of high-speed crafts because of larger propeller diameter, replacing cavitation with ventilation, decreasing the torque and higher efficiency. This study presents a reliable numerical simulation to predict SPP performance using Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (URANS) method. A numerical study on 841-B SPP is performed in open water condition. The free surface is modeled by Volume of Fluid (VOF) approach and the sliding mesh technique is implemented to model the propeller rotational motion. The sliding mesh allows capturing the process of water entry and water exit of blades. The propeller hydrodynamic characteristics, the ventilation pattern and the time history of blade loads are validated through the comparison with available experimental data. For the studied case, it was found that the common grid independence study approach is not sufficient. The grid should be elaborately generated fine enough based on the flow pattern and turbulence modeling parameters in regions near the blade's tip, trailing and leading edges and over the suction side. Details of URANS simulations including optimal time-step size based on propeller revolution rate and the required number of propeller revolutions for periodical results are presented and discussed.     

带前缘结节叶片导管桨尾流不稳定性分析

导管桨的尾流不稳定性在其性能评价中非常重要,不但是其能否提供稳定推力的保证,而且也与螺旋桨的尾流噪声直接相关。为了改善导管桨的尾流,提高尾流稳定性,并优化导管桨的流场脉动,根据座头鲸鳍肢前缘结节的仿生原理,对导管桨叶片的导边进行改进,提出了两种仿生桨型,采用IDDES湍流模型对低进速系数下常规导管桨和仿生叶片导管桨进行数值模拟,探究叶片构型对导管桨性能和尾流不稳定性的影响。计算结果表明,前缘结节可以有效降低叶片受力波动的幅值和叶片所受合力的主频域峰值,具有较大结节的叶片对导管桨尾流有明显的优化作用,在尾流远场中扩大了流动稳定区,延后了尾流处涡破碎的发生,改善了能量谱密度的频域分布。进一步,大前缘结节叶片导管桨应用在低速工况下时,可以大量减少尾流泄涡区域的二次涡产生,这是由于前缘结节提升了相邻涡互感的强度,使得尾流更加稳定,而小结节叶片仿生桨型对导管桨尾流则无明显优化作用。研究方法和成果可为螺旋桨尤其是导管桨尾流不稳定性研究提供参考,不仅验证了前缘结节在导管桨叶片应用的合理性,而且揭示了其优化尾流稳定性的机理。     

Effect of various winglets on the performance of marine propeller

The tip vortex cavitation (TVC) is an issue of increasing interest, because the TVC plays an important role in propeller radiated noise and cavitation erosion. The marine propeller with winglets, which is inspired by the winglets of airfoil, is numerically investigated in the present paper. The blade tip of newly designed propeller tilts toward the pressure side. The difference between six propellers is the change of the rake angle at r/R = 1.0. The pressure coefficient, TVC, axial velocity field and helicity are analyzed. The numerical results show that the winglets of newly designed propeller scarcely affect the efficiency of propeller. The thrust coefficient gradually decreases with the increase in rake angle. As for the suction side, the pressure coefficient (C_p) of winglets propellers is higher than the conventional propeller in general. In addition, the winglets are beneficial to generate less cavitation behavior when the rake angle is small. However, as the rake angle is further increased, the cavitation behavior of winglets propeller is also increased, even larger than the conventional propeller. Therefore, it can be deduced that the winglets can be used to effectively improve the TVC characteristics to some extent.     

Numerical prediction of the effective wake profiles of a high-speed underwater vehicle with contra-rotating propellers

A numerical method is proposed to predict the effective wake profiles of high speed underwater vehicles propelled by contra-rotating propellers (CRPs), in which the hydrodynamic effects of the CRPs are simulated by distributed body forces. First, Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations are conducted for identical body-force distributions in open-water and self-propulsion conditions. The effective wake profiles at the CRP disks are then obtained by subtracting the velocities induced by the body forces in the open water from those induced by the body forces in the self-propulsion condition. The effective wake profiles were then predicted for a generic underwater vehicle with an established CRP design. Next, the hydrodynamic performance of the CRPs in the effective wake was computed using an in-house vortex-lattice code. The potential-flow results agree well with those provided by the RANS simulation under the self-propulsion condition, indicating that the proposed method can predict the effective wake profiles for CRPs with reasonable accuracy. The influences of different wake components on the blade forces were investigated, determining that for CRPs, and especially for the aft propeller, the circumferential wake cannot be neglected in the design.     

Performance analysis of podded propulsors

In this study, the flow around the pod unit is analysed and the performance characteristics of the propeller on the pod are investigated. The main objective of the present work is to further improve the original numerical method developed before for the prediction of performance of podded propellers and to further validate the earlier developed numerical model with a specific emphasis on the hydrodynamic interaction amongst the propulsor components. While in the earlier numerical method, the axial induced velocities by pod and strut parts were included into the calculations on the propeller disc plane, in the present method the tangential induced velocities on the propeller disc plane are included in the calculations as well. The flow domain around the podded propeller is mainly divided into three parts; the axisymmetric pod part, the strut part and the propeller part. While the pod and strut parts are modelled by a low-order boundary element method (BEM), the propeller is represented by a vortex lattice method (VLM). Coupling of the BEM and the VLM is carried out in an iterative manner to incorporate the effect of the pod on the propeller, and vice versa. The present numerical method is applied to two different podded propellers with zero yaw angles in order to compare the results with those of experimental measurements. The present numerical method is also validated in the case of 15° of yaw angle for a podded propulsor. The effect of pod and strut on the propeller and vice versa are discussed.     

海底边界效应对海流发电水轮机水动力性能影响研究

对30 W海流能水平轴水轮机进行叶片设计,应用FLUENT软件对水轮机的水动力性能进行数值模拟,研究了边界效应对叶片表面压力、流场、湍流强度、获能和轴向力的影响。受海底边界效应影响,海流速度沿深度呈现梯度变化,底层流速较小,中上层流速较大。边界效应导致水轮机的水动力性能呈现周期性变化,降低了水轮机的获能和轴向力。机组布置时,宜选择水流稳定且流速较大的中上层区域。     

Performance assessment of a concept propulsor: the thrust-balanced propeller

This paper presents the results of a numerical performance analysis to demonstrate the worthiness of a recently patented new concept propulsor, the so-called “thrust-balanced propeller (TBP)”. The main advantage of this unconventional propulsor is its inherent ability to reduce the unsteady effect of blade forces and moments when it is operating in a non-uniform wake flow. The propulsor comprises a pair of diametrically opposed blades that are connected to one another and mounted so as to be rotatable together through a limited angle about their spindle axis. A quasi-hydrodynamic approach is described and applied to perform the numerical analysis using a state-of-the-art lifting surface procedure for conventional propellers. Performance comparisons with a conventional fixed-pitch propeller are made for the blade forces and moments, efficiency, cavitation extents and fluctuating hull pressures. Bearing in mind the quasi-static nature of the analyses, the results present favourable performance characteristics for the thrust-balanced propeller and support the worthiness of the concept. However, the concept needs to be proved through physical model tests, which are planned to take in a cavitation tunnel.     

Relevance of transition turbulent model for hydrodynamic characteristics of low Reynolds number propeller

The propeller of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) operates at low Reynolds number in laminar to turbulent transition region. The performance of these propellers can be calculated accurately using RANSE solver with γ − Re_θ transition model. In this study, the global and local hydrodynamic characteristics of open and ducted propeller are investigated using the γ − Re_θ transition model. The capability of the γ − Re_θ transition model to capture laminar to turbulent transition on the surface of the open propeller is demonstrated by comparison with published experimental results. The application of transition model for the propeller K_a-4-70 inside the duct 19A shows that the centrifugal forces are dominant at low Reynolds number and the flow is mainly directed in the radial direction. The transition model is able to predict complex flow physics such as leading-edge separation, tip leakage vortex, and the separation bubble on outer surface of the duct. The accurate prediction of these flow phenomenon can lead to correct calculation of global hydrodynamic forces and moments acting on the propeller at low Reynolds number.     

Prediction of non-cavitation propeller noise in time domain

The blade frequency noise of non-cavitation propeller in a uniform flow is analyzed in time domain. The unsteady loading (dipole source) on the blade surface is calculated by a potential-based surface panel method. Then the time- dependent pressure data is used as the input for Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings formulation to predict the acoustics pressure. The integration of noise source is performed over the true blade surface rather than the nothickness blade surface, and the effect of hub can be considered. The noise characteristics of the non-cavitation propeller and the numerical discretization forms are discussed.     

Influence of Ice Size Parameter Variation on Hydrodynamic Performance of Podded Propulsor

During ice-breaking navigation, a massive amount of crushed ice blocks with different sizes is accumulated under the hull of an ice-going ship. This ice slides into the flow field in the forward side of the podded propulsor, affecting the surrounding flow field and aggravating the non-uniformity of the propeller wake. A pulsating load is formed on the propeller, which affects the hydrodynamic performance of the podded propulsor. To study the changes in the propeller hydrodynamic performance during the ice podded propulsor interaction, the overlapping grid technique is used to simulate the unsteady hydrodynamic performance of the podded propulsor at different propeller rotation angles and different ice block sizes. Hence, the hydrodynamic blade behavior during propeller rotation under the interaction between the ice and podded propulsor is discussed. The unsteady propeller loads and surrounding flow fields obtained for ice blocks with different sizes interacting with the podded propulsor are analyzed in detail. The variation in the hydrodynamic performance during the circular motion of a propeller and the influence of ice size variation on the propeller thrust and torque are determined. The calculation results have certain reference significance for experiment-based research, theoretical calculations and numerical simulation concerning ice podded propulsor interaction.     

Study on the axial exciting force characteristics of marine propellers considered the effect of the shaft and blade elasticity

Marine propellers usually operate in a spatially nonuniform wake and then the propeller exciting forces are produced. These exciting forces will cause serious hull vibration and noise radiation. So, there are many researches on the exciting forces of propellers. However, the effects of the shaft and blade elasticity are ignored in most studies. Therefore, firstly, considered the effects of the shaft and blade elasticity, a fluid–structure interaction dynamic model of the fluid-propeller-shaft system is established by coupled BEM and FEM. Then, based on this model, the characteristics of axial exciting force and theirs transmission mechanism to the hull via the shaft are studied. The research results show that first, there are two kinds of vibration modes for blade bending vibration: global mode and local mode. The elastic coupling effect between the blade and the shafting only affects the global mode, but hardly affects the local mode of the blade. Secondly, during the transmission of axial exciting force to the hull through the blades and shafting, only the global mode of the blades can amplify it, while the local mode cannot. These studies could provide a guideline for the optimal design of the propeller-shaft system to make the exciting force transmitted to the ship hull via the shafting be the smallest.     

A novel maneuverable propeller for improving maneuverability and propulsive performance of underwater vehicles

The existing propulsor that can perform both propulsion and maneuvering along axis of rotation is propeller/rotor for a helicopter. Helicopter propellers when maneuvering increase or decrease their blades’ pitch cyclically to create imbalanced thrust and hence maneuvering force/torque. A “maneuverable propeller” was developed and its performance on both maneuvering and propulsion is assessed. The “maneuverable propeller” is an alternative of the existing helicopter rotors. The novelty of this propulsor is that the imbalanced thrust force/torque is created by cyclically increasing or decreasing the angular speed of their blades relatively to the hubs/shafts, to provide the desired maneuvering torque. This maneuverable propeller is hence defined as the Cyclic Blade Variable Rotational Speed Propeller (CBVRP). One of the best advantages is that the maneuvering torque created by the “maneuverable propeller” is much higher, about 5 times of the shaft torque of the same propeller at thrust only mode. The “maneuverable propeller” has wide applications for both surface ships and underwater vehicles that require high maneuverability for cruising inside the narrow passage.     

Design study for outboard propeller with spoiler

With a large number of recreational craft there is an interest in the development of efficient, high thrust outboard propellers. There has been some success with ‘cupped' propellers with a bent trailing edge. Along the same lines is a simpler idea of attaching a raised bar called an ‘Interceptor' or ‘Spoiler' on the propeller blade trailing edge. For the small diameter propeller, this simplifies the design to adjusting the height of the bar. This paper presents a three-part design study which examines the range of available outboard propellers, the optimum size of outboard propellers, and the capability of predicting the influence of the spoiler on the outboard propeller performance. The results indicate the feasibility of the outboard propeller with spoiler.     

Numerical analysis of a propeller during heave motion in cavitating flow

In practical maritime conditions, ship hulls experience heave motion due to the action of waves, which can further drive the ship’s propellers to oscillate relative to the surrounding water. In order to investigate the motion of a propeller working behind a surface vessel sailing in waves, a numerical simulation is conducted on a propeller impacted by heave motion in cavitating flow using the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) method. The coupling of the propeller’s rotation and translation is fulfilled using equations of motion defined for this purpose. The heave motion is simplified as a periodic motion based on a sinusoidal function. The numerical transmission of information from the unsteady flow field is achieved using the overset grid approach. In this manner, the unsteady thrust coefficient and torque coefficient of propellers in different periods of heave motion are analyzed. A comparative study is implemented on the unsteady cavitation performance and wake characteristics of propeller. With the propeller’s heave motion, the flow field non-uniformity constantly changes the load on the propeller during each revolution period and each heaving period, the propeller load and the wake field are closely related to the variation of heave motion period. The results obtained from the numerical simulation are expected to serve as a useful theoretical reference for the numerical analysis of a propeller in a heave motion.