Numerical and experimental fluid–structure interaction analysis of a flexible propeller

ABSTRACT The increasing interest in using flexible materials to design marine propellers, considering deformations due to flow loads. A numerical procedure for analysing two-way fluid-structure interactions, based on the commercial STAR-CCM+ multiphysics software, is described and applied to predict the hydroelastic response of the flexible marine propeller P1790 to hydrodynamic forces in open water conditions. The influence of the deformation on the performance of the flexible propeller was analysed by comparison with its rigid counterpart. The procedure has been validated by means of experiments performed in the cavitation tunnel K27 of the Technical University Berlin with both, the flexible and the rigid propeller. The predicted performance coefficients and the axial deformation of the blades agree well with measured values. This suggests the feasibility of using the passive bending and twisting behaviour of a flexible propeller to adapt the pressure distribution on the blade to improve the propeller performance over a range of advance ratios.