Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Marine Propeller Cavitation

Authors

Department of Mechanical Engineering,Sharif University of Technology

Abstract

Cavitating
ow is investigated around marine propellers, experimentally and numerically.
Two di erent types of conventional model propellers are used for the study. The rst one is a four
bladed model propeller, so called model A, and the second one is a three bladed propeller, model B.
Model A is tested in di erent cavitation regimes in a K23 cavitation tunnel. The results are presented in
characteristic curves and related pictures. Finally, the results are discussed. Model B is investigated based
on existing experimental results. In addition, model B is used for validation of the numerical solution
prior to the testing of model A. The cavitation phenomenon is predicted numerically on a two dimensional
hydrofoil, NACA0015, as well as propeller models A and B. The cavitation prediction on a hydrofoil is
carried out in both steady and unsteady states. The results show good agreement in comparison with
available experimental data. Propeller models are simulated according to cavitation tunnel conditions and
comparisons are made with the experimental results, quantitatively and qualitatively. The results show
good agreement with experimental data under both cavitating and noncavitating conditions. Furthermore,
propeller cavitation breakdown is well reproduced in the proceeding. The overall results suggest that
the present approach is a practicable tool for predicting probable cavitation on propellers during design
processes.

Keywords

Scientia Iranica
Volume 16, Issue 6 - Serial Number 6
Transactions on Mechanical Engineering (B)
December 2009

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics