A Method for the Prediction of Rotor/Stator Interaction Applications to 2-D Hydrofoils and Propeller

This paper presents computational techniques to predict the fully unsteady interaction of two hydrofoils (rotor and stator) and to calculate the unsteady trailing wake geometry in the case of a propeller. A boundary element method is developed to simulate the unsteady performance of moving and stationary hydrofoils interaction in 2-D. The wakes of the two hydrofoils are determined in time by applying a force-free condition on each wake surface. The results of the present method are compared with those from viscous flow calculations in 2-D, by using a commercial RANS solver (FLUENT) on the same 2-D hydrofoil set-up and conditions. The effect of the unsteady rotor/stator interaction is studied. The method then is extended in 3-D to calculate the unsteady trailing wake of propeller flow, and validated with experimental data.