Wake non-uniformity effect upon hydrodynamic and cavitation performance of separate propeller blade of single-shafter model

Object and purpose of research. This paper investigates wake non-uniformity effect of single-shafter model upon local and integral hydrodynamic and cavitation parameters of separate blade of its propeller. The study was performed on propeller models KP505 and containership models KCS. Materials and methods. Local and integral hydrodynamic parameters of propeller and container ship were obtained as per CFD methods. Viscous flow parameters are obtained through finite volume (FVM) solution of unsteady Reynolds equations (URANS) closed by biparametric semi-empirical turbulence model. Main results. The paper demonstrates that local and integral parameters of separate blade in “hull-propeller” system are considerably different from those determined in the uniform wake at the speeds obtained for the nominal wake field in behindhull conditions. Conclusion. Krylov State Research Centre experience of numerical calculations shows that 1) in many aspects of marine hydrodynamics numerical techniques are more informative than model tests and 2) in a number of cases, conventional propeller design approach based on the nominal wake field data (calculated or experimental) might lead to somewhat incorrect technical solutions.