RANS Simulation of Podded Propulsor Performances in Straight Forward Motion

The Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) approach is adopted to study the steady and unsteady performances of the podded propulsor by the Fluent software package. While the interactions of the propeller blades with the pod and strut are time-dependent by nature, the mixing plane model is employed firstly to predict the steady performance, where the interactions are time-averaged. Numerical experiments are carried out with systematically varied mesh sizes to investigate the dependence of the predicted force values on the mesh sizes. Furthermore, the sliding mesh model is employed to simulate the unsteady interactions between the blades, pod and strut. Based on the numerical results, the characteristics of unsteady hydrodynamic forces are discussed, and the applicability of the mixing plane model is investigated for puller-type podded propulsor.     

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.     

Unsteady hydromechanics of a steering podded propeller unit

Unsteady forces, torques and bending moments were predicted for a model podded propulsor unit at various azimuth angles. Predictions in time history include propeller shaft thrust, propulsor unit thrust, normal forces to the propeller shaft bearing, total forces acting on the propulsor unit, propeller shaft torque, blade spindle torque, in-plane and out-of-plane bending moments, and propulsor unit stock shaft torque and bending moments. Analysis was performed for averaged forces and their fluctuations as well. A time-domain unsteady multi-body panel method code, PROPELLA, was further developed for this prediction work. Predictions were compared with a set of time averaged in-house experimental data for a puller-type podded propulsor configuration in the first quadrant operation. Unsteady fluctuations of forces were predicted numerically. Analysis was made for the bending moment on propeller blades, shaft and the propulsor unit stock shaft for azimuth angles from 0° to 45°. It indicates that the magnitude and fluctuation of the forces are significant and they are essential for structural strength and design optimization. The predicted bending moment and global forces on the propulsor unit provide some useful data for ship maneuvering motion and simulation in off-design conditions.     

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.     

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.     

A general equation for performance analysis of multi-component propulsor with propeller

An integral panel method (IPM) that treats the different components of multi-component propulsors as a whole is presented for efficient propulsor performance analysis. The IPM requires consider only one blade of the propeller in the performance analysis, which significantly reduces the number of computation grid. The control equations of the IPM are derived in detail for podded propulsors, contra-rotating propellers and hybrid contra-rotating shaft pod propulsors, and based on these derivations, a general control equation for multi-component propulsors with propeller is derived. Comparison between numerical results and experimental data show that the IPM provides good accuracy for the performance analysis of multi-component propulsors with propeller. In addition, the error sources of IPM are discussed, and the reasonableness of these errors is evaluated.     

块状冰对螺旋桨水动力性能的影响

基于重叠网格模型,通过非定常RANS数值模拟与结果分析,研究了块状冰的尺寸、轴向运动和冰桨位置对螺旋桨水动力性能的影响。选用切割体网格绘制整体静止计算域的背景网格,之后结合棱柱层网格绘制螺旋桨子计算域和冰块子计算域的重叠网格,不同的计算域之间通过两者的重叠区域进行数据传递和插值。计算结果显示,当冰块固定在桨前时,螺旋桨产生的非定常推力和扭矩均以叶频为基频进行周期性变化,而且两者的时间平均值和振幅主要受冰块在螺旋桨盘面内的轴向投影面积、冰桨轴向位置和冰桨水平位置的影响;当冰块在桨前沿轴向匀速靠近螺旋桨时,冰桨轴向距离逐渐变小,冰桨周向相对位置发生周期性的变化,使得推力和扭矩两者均以叶频振荡,而且两者的时间平均值和振幅均随着冰桨轴向距离减小而增加。     

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.     

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.     

Bioinspired delayed stall propulsor

This paper provides an overview of a bioinspired delay stall propulsor (BDSP) concept that employs delayed stall unsteady lift enhancement to increase the lift on propeller blades without adding any complexity to the propulsor. This BDSP concept can provide greatly increased propeller thrust for a given propeller diameter, leading to both increased speed and/or maneuverability. Alternately, this technology offers reduced radiated noise while maintaining current thrust levels through reduction in both propulsor rotation speed and acoustic cancellation. Preliminary two-dimensional simulations have shown a potential 36% reduction in rotational speed at constant thrust, leading to an estimated 4-dB reduction in the total radiated acoustic power. It is believed that the BDSP concept will be simple to manufacture, rugged, and easy to retrofit into existing marine propulsors. This technology has direct application to torpedoes, unmanned underwater vehicles, maneuvering thrusters, submarines, and other propeller-driven devices.     

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.     

Energy saving performance analysis of contra-rotating azimuth propulsor

The energy saving performance of contra-rotating azimuth propulsor (CRAP) is investigated based on low order potential-based panel method. The hydrodynamic interactions among the forward propeller (FP), rear propeller (RP) and the pod unit (PU) which includes the pod body and the strut are considered through induced velocities which are obtained by panel method. In order to have a better understanding about the energy saving performance of CRAP, the hydrodynamic performance of a conventional propeller (CP) supplying the same thrust with CRAP at design condition is also calculated. At design condition, CRAP has a decrease in delivered power by approximately 8% comparing with CP, and the tangential induced velocities in slipstream show that CRAP recovers the rotational energy of slipstream effectively. At off-design conditions, the rotational speed of CRAP is adjusted to supply the same thrust with CP. In general, the delivered power of CRAP is significantly smaller than that of CP, and the energy saving performance of CRAP increases with the decrease of inflow velocity.     

Computational hydrodynamic analysis of the propeller–rudder and the AZIPOD systems

A computational method has been developed to predict the hydrodynamic performance of the propeller–rudder systems (PRS) and azimuthing podded drive (AZIPOD) systems. The method employs a vortex-based lifting theory for the propeller and the potential surface panel method for the steering system. Three propeller models along with three steering systems (rudder and strut, flap and pod (SFP)) are implemented in the present calculations for the cases of uniform and non-uniform conditions. Computed velocity components show good agreement with the experimental measurements behind a propeller with or without the rudder. Calculated thrust, torque and lift also agree well with the experimental results. Computations are also performed for an AZIPOD system in order to obtain the pressure distributions on the SFP, and the hydrodynamic performance (thrust, torque and lift coefficients). The present method is useful for examining the performance of the PRS and AZIPOD systems in the hope of estimating the propulsion and the maneuverability characteristics of the marine vehicles more accurately.     

Numerical flow analysis of single-stage ducted marine propulsor

The present work has solved 3D incompressible RANS equations on a rotating, non-orthogonal multi-blocked grid to efficiently analyze a ducted marine propulsor with rotor–stator interaction. To handle the interface boundary between a rotor and a stator, the sliding multi-block technique using the cubic spline interpolation and the bilinear interpolation was applied. To validate the present code, the flow of a single stage turbine flow was simulated. Time averaged pressure coefficients were compared with experiments and good agreements were obtained. After the code validation, the flowfield around a single-stage ducted marine propulsor having a single stage of rotor and stator was successfully simulated and the hydrodynamic performance coefficients were computed.     

螺旋桨对海冰切削作用的DEM-FEM耦合分析

当船舶在冰区航行时,螺旋桨会与海冰相互碰撞并导致桨叶的变形和损坏,进而影响船舶的航行安全。为研究海冰与螺旋桨的相互作用过程,采用离散元(DEM)—有限元(FEM)耦合方法构建海冰—螺旋桨切削模型。海冰和螺旋桨模型分别采用具有黏结—破碎特性的球体离散单元和8节点六面体有限单元构造。基于该DEM-FEM耦合模型讨论了不同切削深度下,螺旋桨所承受冰载荷的特点和规律;最后,研究了螺旋桨切削海冰过程中进速系数、推力系数、扭矩系数之间的对应关系,并讨论了海冰—螺旋桨相互作用过程中冰压力、Mises应力和变形的分布特点。以上研究可为寒区船舶安全航行和螺旋桨设计提供有益的参考。     

Hydroelastic optimisation of a composite marine propeller in a non-uniform wake

The purpose of this paper is to optimise the hydroelastic performance of a composite marine propeller to reduce vibration and dynamic stress. A hydroelasticity method based on the finite element method (FEM) coupled with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is used to simulate the composite marine propeller in a non-uniform wake. Composite blades can be considered as a cantilever-like laminated structure experiencing an unsteady hydrodynamic load and centrifugal force. The objective of the improved design is to minimise the vibratory hub loads. The ply angle and stacking sequence are considered as the design variables. The nonlinear periodic transient responses and vibration hub loads of the composite blade are obtained by solving coupled equations using the Newton–Raphson numerical procedure. Compared to the starting design of the propeller, the optimum solution results in a 49.6–70.6% reduction of the 7/rev hub loads.     

A Numerical and Experimental Study on the Hull-Propeller Interaction of A Long Range Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

Range is an important factor to the design of autonomous underwater vehicles(AUVs), while drag reduction efforts are pursued, the investigation of body-propeller interaction is another vital consideration. We present a numerical and experimental study of the hull-propeller interaction for deeply submerged underwater vehicles, using a proportionalintegral-derivative(PID) controller method to estimate self-propulsion point in CFD environment. The hydrodynamic performance of hull and propeller at the balance state when the AUV sails at a fixed depth is investigated, using steady RANS solver of Star-CCM+. The proposed steady RANS solver takes only hours to reach a reasonable solution. It is more time efficient than unsteady simulations which takes days or weeks, as well as huge consumption of computing resources. Explorer 1000, a long range AUV developed by Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, was studied as an object, and self-propulsion point, thrust deduction,wake fraction and hull efficiency were analyzed by using the proposed RANS method. Behind-hull performance of the selected propeller MAU4-40, as well as the hull-propeller interaction, was obtained from the computed hydrodynamic forces. The numerical results are in good qualitative and quantitative agreement with the experimental results obtained in the Qiandao Lake of Zhejiang province, China.     

Energy saving performance analysis of contra-rotating azimuth propulsor. Part 2: Optimal matching investigation in model scale

The propulsive efficiency maximization of contra-rotating azimuth propulsor (CRAP) at model scale is investigated through searching the optimal matching rotational speeds of the forward propeller (FP) and rear propeller (RP) of CRAP based on the potential-based panel method. The hydrodynamic performance of CRAP with changing rotational speeds (FP and RP may have different rotational speeds) are calculated. When the inflow velocity is certain, the cubic spline interpolation method is used to get the equal thrust points at which CRAP has the same thrust with the corresponding conventional propeller (CP). Then, the delivered powers at these equal thrust points are further obtained through cubic spline interpolation method. The rotational speeds of FP and RP at the equal thrust point corresponding to the minimal delivered power are the optimal matching rotational speeds of CRAP. The optimal matching calculations are carried out at different inflow velocities. The results of the optimal matching investigation show that CRAP has the lowest delivered powers when FP and RP have the optimal matching rotational speeds and that the energy saving level decreases with the increase of inflow velocity. The optimal matching rotational speed ratio decreases with the increase of inflow velocity. In general, the delivered powers of CRAP having optimal matching rotational speeds at different inflow velocities are obviously smaller than those of CP.     

Research on Hydrodynamic Interference Suppression of Bottom-Mounted Monitoring Platform with Fairing Structure

In the disturbance of unsteady flow field under the sea, the monitoring accuracy and precision of the bottom-mounted acoustic monitoring platform will decrease. In order to reduce the hydrodynamic interference, the platform wrapped with fairing structure and separated from the retrieval unit is described. The suppression effect evaluation based on the correlation theory of sound pressure and particle velocity for spherical wave in infinite homogeneous medium is proposed and the difference value between them is used to evaluate the hydrodynamic restraining performance of the bottom-mounted platform under far field condition. Through the sea test, it is indicated that the platform with sparse layers fairing structure (there are two layers for the fairing, in which the inside layer is 6-layers sparse metal net, and the outside layer is 1-layer polyester cloth, and then it takes sparse layers for short) has no attenuation in the sound pressure response to the sound source signal, but obvious suppression in the velocity response to the hydrodynamic noise. The effective frequency of the fairing structure is decreased below 10 Hz, and the noise magnitude is reduced by 10 dB. With the comparison of different fairing structures, it is concluded that the tighter fairing structure can enhance the performance of sound transmission and flow restraining.     

考虑诱导速度的螺旋桨敞水性能CFD模拟

螺旋桨工作时在其周围形成诱导速度场,诱导速度随到桨叶距离的增大而衰减。采用CFD方法模拟螺旋桨敞水性能时,只能截取有限尺度的流域进行计算,此时计算域边界上诱导速度并不为零,将进口速度设为进速是近似的。一般采用足够大的计算域,使螺旋桨前方及侧面边界尽量远离桨叶。为了在较小的计算域中实现螺旋桨敞水性能的准确预报,提出在设定进口速度时计入螺旋桨诱导速度的CFD模拟方法。应用升力面方法计算诱导速度,将进口速度设为进速与诱导速度之和。逐步减小计算域尺度,考察敞水性能及压力分布计算结果的变化情况及精度。算例比较表明:通过考虑诱导速度,可以大幅度减小进口与螺旋桨的距离而不降低计算精度。