On the importance of boundary layer calculations instead of viscous correction in heavily loaded marine propellers while using a surface panel method

A surface panel method is employed for the thin boundary layer calculation of heavily loaded marine propellers in steady state conditions. Employing the surface panel method, known as the “Morino Method”, the flow field around the propeller is represented by an unknown potential. The majority of the flow field is governed by the potential theory while the viscosity is assumed to be largely confined to thin shear layer on the propeller surface. The boundary layer calculations are performed by using Cebeci-Smith two dimensional model and the local skin friction coefficients and blowing velocities are obtained along the pre-computed on-body streamlines. It is shown that the prediction of torque of the propeller is improved when the boundary layer calculations are used instead of the boundary layer corrections based on the formulae established for the flat plates.     

Direct scantling assessment of propeller blades

Traditionally, propeller design has been focused on all activities necessary to obtain a propeller featuring a high efficiency, avoiding erosive cavitation for given operating conditions and having adequate structural strength. In recent years, more and more challenging requirements have been imposed, such as the reduction of radiated noise and pressures pulses, requiring more precise analyses and methods in the optimization of the propeller performance. On the other hand, the evaluation of the propeller strength still relies on simplified methods, which basically consider the blade as a cantilever beam subjected to characteristic static forces. Since the loads acting on a blade are variable in the blade revolution and in different operating conditions throughout the ship life, a procedure to account for the influence of fatigue phenomena is proposed. The fatigue assessment could reduce the safety factor in the propeller scantling rules and allow improving the quality of propeller design (e.g. obtaining higher efficiency, margin on cavitation phenomena, less noise).     

Effect of waves on cavitation and pressure pulses of a tanker with twin podded propulsion

There is increasing interest in optimizing ships for the actual operating condition rather than just for calm water. In order to optimize the propeller designs for operations in waves, it is essential to study how the propeller performance is affected by operation in waves. The effect of various factors that influence the propeller is quantified in this paper using a 8000 dwt chemical tanker equipped with twin-podded propulsion as a case vessel. Propeller performance in waves in terms of cavitation, pressure pulses, and efficiency is compared with the performance in calm water. The influence of wake variation, ship motions, RPM fluctuations and speed loss is studied. Substantial increase in cavitation and pressure pulses due to wake variation in the presence of waves is found. It is found that the effect of other factors is relatively small and easier to take into account as compared to wake variation. Therefore, considering the wake variation at least in the critical wave condition (where the wavelength is close to ship length) in addition to calm water wake is recommended in order to ensure that the optimized propeller performs well both in calm water and in waves.     

Effect of waves on cavitation and pressure pulses

In view of environmental concerns, there is increasing demand to optimize the ships for the actual operating condition rather than for calm water. Now, in order to apply this for propeller design, a first step would be to study the effects of waves on propeller operation. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to identify and quantify the effect of various factors affecting the propeller in waves. The performance of KVLCC2 propeller in the presence of three different waves has been compared with calm water performance. Changes in performance in terms of cavitation, pressure pulses, and efficiency have been studied. Significant increase in pressure pulses has been observed due to wake change in waves even though cavitation did not show any significant change. An analysis using cavitation bucket diagram in different wave conditions indicates that a propeller optimized for calm water wake may perform much worse in the presence of waves. Therefore, having wake variation at least in critical wave conditions (where the wavelength is close to ship length) in addition to calm water wake could be very useful to ensure that the propeller performs equally well in the presence of waves.     

A numerical study for effectiveness of a wake equalizing duct

A numerical study is carried out for calculating effect of the wake equalizing duct (WED) on the propulsion performance of a chemical tanker. Analysis is performed using a CFD tool based on the solution of Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equation. Computations are carried out for several arrangements of WED for a number of ship speeds. Total 56 runs are achieved, and the results are compared with each other. It can be concluded from this study that propeller characteristics and resistance of the ship are slightly affected by the presence of the WED, but an additional thrust is produced by the WED. It is also found that the maximum gain obtained by using an appropriate WED design is about 10%.     

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 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.     

Analysis of wake behind a rotating propeller using PIV technique in a cavitation tunnel

A two-frame particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique is used to investigate the wake characteristics behind a marine propeller with 4 blades at high Reynolds number. For each of 9 different blade phases from 0° to 80°, 150 instantaneous velocity fields are measured. They are ensemble averaged to study the spatial evolution of the propeller wake in the region ranging from the trailing edge to one propeller diameter (D) downstream location. The phase-averaged mean velocity shows that the trailing vorticity is related to radial velocity jump, and the viscous wake is affected by boundary layers developed on the blade surfaces and centrifugal force. Both Galilean decomposition method and vortex identification method using swirling strength calculation are very useful for the study of vortex behaviors in the propeller wake region. The slipstream contraction occurs in the near-wake region up to about X/D=0.53 downstream. Thereafter, unstable oscillation occurs because of the reduction of interaction between the tip vortex and the wake sheet behind the maximum contraction point.     

Experimental investigation of blade and propeller loads: Steady turning motion

This paper is the continuation of the work described in [14], dedicated to the presentation of the results of propeller performance in behind-hull during straight ahead motion obtained by a novel experimental set-up for the measurements of single blade loads. In the present case, the study shows and discusses the single blade and propeller loads developed during steady turning conditions, that were simulated by means of free running, self propelled maneuvering tests for a twin screw configuration. Maneuvering conditions are critical for the ship propulsion system, because the performance of the propeller and the side effects related to its functioning (propeller–hull induced pressure and vibrations, noise) are completely different with respect to the design condition in straight ahead motion. Thrust and torque and generation of in-plane loads (force and moments), developed by the blade during the period, evolve differently for the two propellers, due to different propeller–wake interactions. The understanding and the accurate quantification of propeller loads, in these realistic operative scenarios, are pivotal to design low emission and comfortable ships, fulfilling the requirements of safety and continuity of operations at sea. The analysis is carried out revisiting the investigation in [14] for three different speeds (F_N = 0.26, 0.34 and 0.40) and a large set of rudder angles that span moderate and tight maneuvers.     

Numerical analysis of the bubble jet impact on a rigid wall

The main characteristic of the bubble dynamics near a rigid wall is the development of a high speed liquid jet, generating highly localized pressure on the wall. In present study, the bubble dynamic behaviors and the pressure impulses are investigated through experimental and numerical methods. In the experiment, the dynamics of a spark-generated bubble near a steel plate are captured by a high-speed camera with up to 650,000 frames per second. Numerical studies are conducted using a boundary integral method with incompressible assumption, and the vortex ring model is introduced to handle the discontinued potential of the toroidal bubble. Meanwhile, the pressure on the rigid wall is calculated by an auxiliary function. Calculated results with two different stand-off parameters show excellent agreement with experimental observations. A double-peaked or multiple-peaked structure occurs in the pressure profile during the collapse and rebounding phase. Generally, the pressure at the wall center reaches the first peak soon after the jet impact, and the second peak is caused by the rapid migration of the bubble toward the wall, and the subsequent peaks may be caused by the splashing effect and the rebounding of the toroidal bubble. At last, both agreements and differences are found in the comparison between the present model and a hybrid incompressible–compressible method in Hsiao et al. (2014). The differences show that the compressibility of the flow is another influence factor of the jet impact. However, the main features of the jet impact could be simulated using the present model.     

On the hydrodynamic loading of marine cycloidal propeller during maneuvering

In marine cycloidal propeller (MCP), the inflow velocity vector to the propeller blade continuously changes at different blade orbit angle. Earlier marine cycloidal propellers were installed on ships that mainly performed towing operations. Recently marine cycloidal propellers are being installed on large naval vessels, which spend lot of their operating hours in cruising. Therefore, the hydrodynamic loading on the blades both during cruising maneuvers need to be investigated. The flow characteristics around the propeller blade are computed numerically by panel method. Viscous effects on the flow are then estimated by boundary layer technique. The effect of rotating disc on viscous fluid is also investigated. The corrected flow characteristics are then used for estimating the hydrodynamic loading. The operating conditions that are critical for the loading of the blade and the support structure and some aspects of the maneuvering simulation at cruising speed are investigated.     

Development of hybrid URANS-LES methods for flow simulation in the ship stern area

The paper presents the results of the application of a new hybrid URANS-LES method for the investigations of the ship wake behind the tanker KVLCC2. The switching between URANS and LES models is based on the ratio between the turbulence scale and the cell size of the mesh. Ship resistance, fields of the axial velocity and turbulent kinetic energy in the propeller plane are calculated and compared with measurements. Much attention is paid to the analysis of the unsteady velocities, their PDF distributions and spectra. Numerical analysis shows that the instantaneous velocities deviate substantially from their mean values which are usually used as the estimated velocities in modern engineering methodologies. The thrust variation in the unsteady wake is more than twice as large as that in the time averaged (frozen) wake. The results of the present study point out that the unsteadiness in the wake behind full ships can be very large and should be taken into account when propulsion and unsteady loadings are determined.     

Computation of solitary waves during propagation and runup on a slope

A numerical time-simulation algorithm for analysing highly nonlinear solitary waves interacting with plane gentle and steep slopes is described by employing a mixed Eulerian–Lagrangian method. The full nonlinear free surface conditions are considered here in a Lagrangian frame of reference without any analytical approximations, and thus the method is valid for very steep waves including overturning. It is found that the runup height is crucially dependent on the wave steepness and the slope of the plane. Pressures and forces exerted on impermeable walls of different inclinations (slopes) by progressive shallow water solitary waves are studied. Strong nonlinear features in the form of pronounced double peaks are visible in the time history of pressure and force signals with increasing heights of the oncoming solitary waves. The effect of nonlinearity is less pronounced as the inclination of the wall decreases with respect to the bottom surface.     

A practical surface panel method to predict velocity distribution around a three-dimensional hydrofoil including boundary layer effects

A practical, low order and potential-based surface panel method is presented to predict the flow around a three-dimensional rectangular foil section including the effect of boundary layer. The method is based on a boundary-integral formulation, known as the “Morino formulation” and the boundary layer effect is taken into account through a complementary thin boundary layer model. The numerical approach used in the method presents a strongly convergent solution based on the iterative wake roll-up and contraction model including the boundary layer effect. The method is applied to a three-dimensional foil section for which the velocity distribution around the foil was measured using a 2D Laser Doppler Velocimetry system in a large cavitation tunnel. Comparison of the predicted velocity distributions both inside and outside of the boundary layer of the foil as well as the boundary layer shapes obtained from the numerical model show fairly good correlation with the measurements, indicating the robustness and practical worthiness of the proposed method.     

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.     

The diffraction of linear waves by a uniform vertical cylinder with cosine-type radial perturbations

The interaction of linear waves with a uniform, bottom-mounted, surface-piercing cylinder whose diameter exhibits a cosine-type variation is investigated. Two solution methods are presented. One method is based on a perturbation theory, using a perturbation parameter defined in terms of the surface geometry of the cylinder. The analysis includes terms up to the first-order in this parameter, where the zeroth-order solution corresponds to a circular cylinder. The velocity potentials at the zeroth and first orders are expressed as eigenfunction expansions involving unknown coefficients that are subsequently determined through the cylinder boundary conditions. The second method is based on Green's theorem and gives rise to an integral equation for the fluid velocity potential on the cylinder surface. A comparison between the results of these two methods has proved that they are in good agreement for small values of the perturbation parameter. Numerical results are presented that illustrate the influence of the magnitude and frequency of these perturbations on the resulting hydrodynamic force and the wave runup on the cylinder.     

Fully nonlinear 3D interaction of bubble dynamics and a submerged or floating structure

This paper is concerned with the interaction of bubbles, a submerged or floating structure, and free surface waves. A three-dimensional fully nonlinear model has been developed based on the coupling of the boundary integral method (BIM) for bubble dynamics and free surface waves and the finite element method for structure deformation. The present method is well validated by comparing the numerical results with the experimental data. Three structure characteristics, including fixed, rigidly moving and flexible, are investigated separately to determine their influence on bubble dynamics. For a free-floating structure, the free surface causes not only a larger reduction in peak pressure for a rigid structure compared with a fixed body but also the modification of the bubble period and structural response. The interaction between a bubble and a flexible structure, in the absence of a free surface, is simulated. Both the rigid motion and the deformation at the local structure appear in the simulation. The effect of the structural thickness on the reduction in peak pressure is also considered.     

An efficient method for the numerical calculation of viscous effects on transient long waves

Previous studies have shown that the Boussinesq equations can be used to calculate the instantaneous bottom shear stress induced by transient or periodic waves. The bottom friction term occurs as a convolution integral in time in the continuity equation. The exact numerical integration of a convolution integral demands large computational resources, which makes the method less useful for large scale computations. In this paper we explore how the value of the convolution integral can be estimated if we only use the values of the variables in a limited number of time steps, and discuss the accuracy and computational cost of this method.     

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.