Abstract
Traditional CFD techniques are not effective in preserving wakes and vortices over larger distances and for longer times. Vorticity Confinement (VC) technique helps counter the numerical diffusion to preserve wakes and vortices. In the current study, VC was used to accurately model the propeller flow using two different propeller modelling techniques after being implemented into SU2, an open-source CFD solver. One resolves flow past the propeller by solving RANS equations in a rotating reference frame. Another is a simplified propeller modelling technique in which the propeller needs to be modelled as a disk, and the propeller loading is determined using the blade element method. In the first case, VC enabled tip and hub vortices to convect over larger distances from the propeller, along with an improved resolution of gradients in the tip vortex. With the latter technique, VC helped conserve the tangential velocities for longer distances.
Acknowledgments
The first author is grateful to CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories (CSIR-NAL), Bangalore, for the computational facilities and AcSIR for providing a platform to work at CSIR-NAL. Thanks are due to Dr. V Ramesh, Dr. Venkat Iyengar of CSIRNAL and Prof Joseph Mathew of IISc for their suggestions. We thank Mr. Josy P Pullockara for reviewing the code and other members of the CTFD division, CSIR-NAL, for their support. We further thank the SU2 foundation and SU2 community for developing the SU2 code andmaking it open-source. We appreciate the helpful comments and suggestions by the anonymous reviewers, which resulted in improvements to this paper.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).