Research on the hydrodynamic performance of propellers under oblique flow conditions

Abstract

The phenomenon of oblique water inflow is widespread in the operation of thrusters, which will cause adverse effects on the hydrodynamic performance of thrusters. In order to investigate the hydrodynamic performance and stress variation of the propeller in oblique flow, based on computational fluid dynamics theory, this paper takes the DTMB4119 propeller as the research object and conducts numerical simulation research on the propeller in oblique flow by solving the RANS equation. By calculating the open water performance curve and surface pressure distribution of the propeller, the rationality of the numerical method and the meshing are verified. Considering the flow field information such as velocity, oblique flow angles, flow line distribution, and pressure distribution, the changes in hydrodynamic characteristics of the propeller are simulated and analyzed. The results show that the uneven distribution of pressure on the propeller blade surface increases with a decrease in the advance coefficient. The force pulsation amplitude of a single blade increases with an increase in oblique flow angles. With the increase in oblique flow angles, the thrust, torque, and efficiency of the propeller show different increasing trends. With the increase in propeller advance coefficient, propeller thrust and torque decrease gradually, and propeller efficiency increases gradually. By using mature propellers, this paper has more reference value for studying the flow field around the ship hull and the hydrodynamic performance of propellers in the process of ship maneuvering.