Open AccessA 2.5D numerical study on open water hydrodynamic performance of a Voith-Schneider propeller
Author(s) -
M. Bakhtiari,
Hassan Ghassemi
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
mechanics and industry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2257-7777
pISSN - 2257-7750
DOI - 10.1051/meca/2019049
Subject(s) - propeller , advance ratio , thrust , perpendicular , open water , reynolds averaged navier–stokes equations , blade pitch , marine engineering , cycloid , rotation (mathematics) , blade (archaeology) , propulsor , blade element theory , mechanics , structural engineering , engineering , turbulence , physics , mechanical engineering , aerodynamics , geometry , mathematics , turbine , reducer
Marine cycloidal propeller (MCP) is a special type of marine propulsors that provides high maneuverability for marine vessels. In a MCP, the propeller axis of rotation is perpendicular to the direction of thrust force. It consists of a number of lifting blade. Each blade rotates about the propeller axis and simultaneously pitches about its own axis. The magnitude and direction of thrust force can be adjusted by controlling the propeller pitch. Voith-Schneider propeller (VSP) is a low-pitch MCP with pure cycloidal blade motion allowing fast, accurate, and stepless control of thrust magnitude and direction. Generally, low-pitch cycloidal propellers are used in applications with low speed maneuvering requirements, such as tugboats, minesweepers, etc. In this study, a 2.5D numerical method based on unsteady RANS equations with SST k-ω turbulent model was implemented to predict the open water hydrodynamic performance of a VSP for different propeller pitches and blade thicknesses. The numerical method was validated against the experimental data before applying to VSP. The results showed that maximum open water efficiency of a VSP is enhanced by increasing the propeller pitch. Furthermore, the effect of blade thickness on open water efficiency is different at various advance coefficients, so that the maximum efficiency produced by the VSP decreases with increasing blade thickness at different propeller pitches.