A 3-D Euler Solver and its Application on the Analysis of Cavitating Propellers

Abstract

An Euler solver, based on a finite volume approach, is developed and applied to the prediction of the effec­tive wake for propellers subject to non-axisymmetric inflows. The method is coupled with an existing lifting-surface vortex-lattice method for the analy­sis of unsteady cavitating propeller flows. An axi­symmetric and a fully three-dimensional version of the method are presented. The results are validated against analytical solutions from potential flow and actuator disk theory. The effect of the grid parame­ters on the results ( circumferential average and am­plitudes of harmonics of the predicted effective wake) is found to be very weak. The predicted total veloc­ity field correlates very well with that measured in propeller experiments in axisymmetric flow.