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Sverre Steen
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
This work was performed in the framework of a numerical study aiming at modeling the ventilation phenomenon,
which has been recognized to be important for marine
screws, rudders and submerged hydrofoils (see experiments by Shiba, 1953; Nishiyama, 1961; Koushan, 2006).
During the operation of a vessel, ventilation can seriously
damage mechanical components of an engine, leading to
its failure, due to instability and sudden change in thrust
and torque, and consequently in the sudden increase in revolutions. Fluctuating propeller loadings occur more often
during operations of dynamic positioning, characterized by
low advance speed and high propeller loadings.
The effect of ventilation on average thrust and torque of
propellers operating in waves is discussed by Faltinsen
et al. (1981), Minsaas et al. (1983) and Minsaas et al.
(1987). In order to get a better insight into propeller ventilation, experiments were carried out on a wide range of
configurations (Koushan, 2006) .
Previous numerical works dealing simultaneously with
propeller and free-surface flow are mainly devoted to partially submerged propellers. These propellers are surfacepiercing already at rest, and their application is only for
high-speed vessels. Young and Kinnas (2004) with a
Boundary Element Method and Caponnetto (2003) with
RANS have successfully reproduced the dynamic loads
measured during the experiments performed by Olofsson
(1996) on partially-submerged propellers. The authors are
not aware of other numerical works reproducing the interaction of a fully submerged propeller with the free surface
(not surface-piercing).
A numerical modeling of the experiments performed by
Koushan (2006) has been started studying a case showing
full ventilation. This run was performed at a submergence
ratio h/R = 1.4 and at an advance ratio J = 0.1, defined
as:
U
J=
nD
The numerical domain of this configuration is shown in
Figure 1 and corresponds to a shaft submergence of 1.4
times the propeller radius R, resulting in a minimum clearance of the propeller disc from the undisturbed free-surface
of 0.05 m.
and without the presence of the duct. The model has thus
a generic design, representing a typical propeller which
can be used in different regimes. While the experiments
are performed with a pulling thruster, only the propeller is
modelled in the numerical simulations. The propeller is
right-handed, with a diameter D of 0.25 m and a hub diameter Dhub of 0.06 m. Design pitch ratio P/D is 1.1 and
blade area ratio EAR 0.595.
In order to verify the numerical error of the implemented
simulation, a sensitivity analysis was performed in open
water conditions, and its results validated against the available experiments, for a wide range of advance ratios.
2
VENTILATION MECHANISM
NUMERICAL METHOD
Z
X
Figure 3.
RESULTS
The results obtained for the open water test and including
the free surface are discussed in the following sections.
Figure 3: Mesh topology on the blade wall
While a SST k model (Menter, 1994) was used in open
water conditions ( 4.1), turbulence was removed when
simulating the free-surface flow ( 4.2). Performing a laminar computation helped reducing the computational time,
and such an approximation is deemed as of minor importance for the present study. This assumption and the background for the chosen numerical model are discussed by
Califano (2008), who investigated the importance of the parameters affecting the simulation of a lifting surface close
to the free surface.
3.1 Propeller rotation
A validation and verification activity in open water was performed before including the free surface.
Propeller characteristics can be presented in dimensionless
form, in terms of thrust KT , torque KQ and efficiency ,
defined in the following equations:
T
T
J KT
, KQ =
, =
n2 D 4
n2 D 5
2 KQ
KT =
KQ
0.09
0.8
0.08
0.7
0.07
0.6
KT
0.1
CFD
BEM
experiment
0.06
KT
0.5
0.05
0.4
0.04
0.3
0.03
0.2
KQ
0.02
0.1
0.01
0
0
1.1 1.2
exp
CFD
BEM
0.1
0.3
0.5
0.7
0.9
1.1
1.2
0.5915
0.4938
0.3941
0.2929
0.1929
0.0811
0.0143
0.5857
0.4904
0.3815
0.2834
0.1848
0.0752
0.0080
0.98%
0.69%
3.20%
3.25%
4.19%
7.29%
44.24%
0.5547
0.4651
0.3716
0.2738
0.1716
0.0643
0.0084
6.22%
5.81%
5.71%
6.53%
11.04%
20.78%
41.66%
0.95
thrust
torque
0.9
KT / KT
exp
CFD
BEM
0.8
0.1
0.3
0.5
0.7
0.9
1.1
1.2
0.0885
0.0768
0.0649
0.0521
0.0387
0.0230
0.0136
0.0861
0.0743
0.0608
0.0487
0.0353
0.0194
0.0094
2.69%
3.24%
6.28%
6.55%
8.89%
15.80%
31.08%
0.0841
0.0736
0.0620
0.0491
0.0351
0.0195
0.0099
4.93%
4.16%
4.51%
5.70%
9.38%
15.32%
27.19%
0.75
KQ / KQ
0.85
0.7
3
3.2
3.4
3.6
3.8
4.2
4.4
time [s]
0.8
KT / KT
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
3
3.2
3.4
3.6
3.8
4.2
4.4
time [s]
4.2 Ventilation
0.25
0.9
0.2
KT / KT
0
propeller
KT blade
/
KT prop.
0
0.8
0.15
propeller
blade
0.7
3
3.2
0.1
3.4
3.6
3.8
4.2
4.4
time [s]
CFD-SM
Experiment
Exp. f < 4n
80
70
60
50
40
30
0
45
90
135
180
225
270
315
360
[deg]
KT / KT (blade)
0
SM
MRF 45
MRF 135
MRF 225
MRF 315
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0
45
90
135
180
225
270
315
360
[deg]
Figure 9: Blade thrust coefficient ratio during one revolution, for the Multiple Reference Frame () and Sliding
Mesh (- -) models
Both models show a reduced thrust in the first half revolution against an increased value in the second one, where
the thrust is still below its nominal value. The SM model is
able to capture the sudden thrust loss from its peak value,
Experimental data show clear oscillations in the bladefrequency range. Oscillations with frequencies which are
multiple-valued of the propeller frequency (n, 2n, 3n, ...)
can be seen both in experimental tests and numerical simulations, but the authors are not aware of previous works
showing oscillations in the blade-frequency range with amplitude as high as the present one. One could presume that a
systematic error is affecting the mechanical response of the
system, nevertheless other flow features might influence the
ventilating flow object of this investigation. Since a clear
statement about whether these blade-frequency oscillations
are related to mechanical properties or fluid-dynamic phenomena, experiments are presented both in their original
format and filtered with a low-pass filter allowing frequencies up to three times the propeller frequency.
The blade thrust computed from the present simulation
D
We = n D
S
In the present case W e > 200, which is higher than 180,
described by Shiba (1953) as the limit above which the
influence of surface tension can be neglected. Nevertheless, surface tension might play an important role for well
submerged propellers, leading to instabilities which might
eventually cause the formation of a free-surface vortex.
5
CONCLUDING REMARKS
The authors gratefully acknowledge the Rolls-Royce University Technology Center in Trondheim for supporting the
present research. This project was partially supported by
the Norwegian HPC project NOTUR that granted access
to its computer facilities. The authors also acknowledge
Dr. K. Koushan for providing experimental data and Dr. V.
Krasilnikov for providing the results of the BEM.
Nomenclature
Propeller efficiency
Water density
Propeller diameter
Dhub
Hub diameter
EAR
h/R
Submergence ratio
Advance ratio
KQ0
KQ
Torque coefficient
KT0
KT
Thrust coefficient
Rotation rate
P/D
Pitch ratio
Propeller torque
Propeller radius
Propeller thrust
Free-stream velocity
We
Weber number
REFERENCES
(a) CFD: propeller blades are colored with water volume fraction, while the free surface
with its height, taken in the direction of gravity.
(b) Experiments.
(a) 0 deg
(b) 60 deg
Figure 12: Instantaneous flow fields during one propeller revolution. Propeller blades are colored with water volume
fraction, while the free surface with its height position.