Hydrodynamic characteristic curves and behavior of flow around a surface-piercing propeller using computational fluid dynamics based on FVM

In this study, unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes computations based on a finite volume method was used to investigate the behavior of fluid flow around an optimized surface-piercing propeller (special blade section) operating at immersion ratio of 0.3. Sliding mesh technique was applied to simulate rotational motion of the propeller. Homogenous Eulerian multiphase model including volume of fluid method was employed to solve two-phase flow field equations. As the results showed, the highest thrust and efficiency of the key blade achieved at the regions near the rotation angle of 180°. Additionally, total thrust of the blade section (0.7R) was decreased with increase of advance coefficient. In a specified advance coefficient, from rotation angle of 90°–180°, total thrust of the blade section was increased and maximum local thrust occurred at a location close to the leading edge whereas from rotation angle of 180°–270°, total thrust of the blade section was dropped and maximum local thrust position got away from the leading edge. To validate the numerical results, experimental data of SPP-841B propeller was used. Comparison between numerically simulated results, measured open water characteristics of SPP-841B and ventilation pattern of the key blade revealed an acceptable level of conformity.