An investigation of scale effects on marine propeller under cavitating and non-cavitating conditions

ABSTRACT

In this study, scale effects on the hydrodynamic performance of DTMB 4119 propeller have been investigated in uniform flow under non-cavitating and cavitating conditions by a simple practical method based on OpenFOAM. A potential based Lifting Surface Method has also been applied. A verification study of non-cavitating simulations has been carried out by Grid Convergence Index method at one scale ratio. Then the results have been validated with experiments. Schnerr-Sauer cavitation model of OpenFOAM has been used for the phase change between vapor and liquid. Cavitation simulations have been performed as a time-dependent with dynamic mesh while non-cavitating simulations have been carried out as a steady-state with static mesh. Effects of the scale ratio and cavitation simulations have been investigated and a simple fitting procedure on the thrust and torque values based on logarithm of Reynolds number have been applied. Results have also been compared with ITTC corrections.

KEYWORDS:

• Computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
• RANSE
• scale effect
• Reynolds number
• OpenFOAM
• marine propeller
• cavitation

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for the use of the computing resources provided by the computing facilities at TUBITAK-ULAKBIM, High Performance and Grid Computing Center.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study is a part of A. Soydan’s PhD thesis conducted out at Istanbul Technical University. He is also a YOK 100/2000 doctoral scholarship student.

Notes on contributors

Ahmet Soydan

Ahmet Soydan is currently studying on his PhD thesis in the Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering at Istanbul Technical University. He received his Master’s degree from Istanbul Technical University in 2016. He worked at Milper Propeller Technologies Inc., Seft Ship Design and Turkish Aerospace as Research Engineer. His research interests include rotor/propeller aerodynamics/aeroacoustics, high-performance computing, and multiphase flows.

Sakir Bal

Prof. Sakir Bal is currently working in the Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering of Istanbul Technical University. Prof. Bal teaches ‘Fluid Mechanics’, ‘Ship Motions and Maneuvering’, and ‘Ship Propulsion’, courses at undergraduate level and ‘Boundary Element Methods in Ship Hydrodynamics’ and ‘Hydrodynamics of Marine Propellers’ courses at graduate level. He did research in Helsinki University of Technology (1995-1996), the University of Texas at Austin (1998-1999 and 2005) and University of Newcastle upon Tyne (2005) and also taught in University of Liege at graduate level. He published more than 50 refeered international journal papers and 72 papers apperard in conference proceedings. He also published many research reports. He is a full member of SNAME (Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers), a fellow of RINA (Royal Institiution of Naval Architects) and was a member of Technical Programme Committee of ISOPE (International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers) between 2006 and 2011. In addition, he supervised and/or co-supervised more than 20 research projects.