Experimental Investigation of the Decay from A Ship’s Propeller

In the present study, an experimental investigation of the decay of the maximum velocity and its turbulent characteristics behind a ship propeller, in ＂bollard pull＂ condition （zero speed of advance）, is reported. Velocity measurements were performed in laboratory by use of a Laser Doppler Anemometry （LDA） measurement system. Earlier researchers described that the maximum axial velocity is constant at the initial stage of a ship＇s propeller jet （Fuehrer and Romisch, 1977; Blaauw and van de Kaa, 1978; Berger et al, 1981; Verhey, 1983） as reported in a pure water jet （Albertson et al., 1950; Lee et al., 2002; Dai, 2005）, but a number of researchers disagreed with the constant velocity assumption. The present study found that the maximum axial velocity decays in the zone of flow establishment and the zone of established flow with different rates. The investigation provides an insight into the decays of both the maximum velocity and the maximum turbulent fluctuation in axial, tangential and radial components and the decay of the maximum turbulent kinetic energy. Empirical equations are proposed to allow coastal engineers to estimate the jet characteristics from a ship＇s propeller.

Experimental investigation of vortex generator influences on propeller cavitation and hull pressure fluctuations

In this paper,the transient turbulent cavitating flow around a marine propeller behind a ship was investigated experimentally with emphasis on how vortex generator(VG)influences propeller cavitation and hull pressure fluctuations.The experiments were carried out in China Large Cavitation Channel with the closed test section covering 10.5 m in length and cross-section of 2.2 m^2×2.0m^2.The experiment recorded instantaneous cavitation photos of the propeller and pressure fluctuations on the hull surface.The results demonstrate that without vortex generator,the sheet cavitation inception begins at-50°(310°),and then from-50°(310°)to 30°,the extent and area of sheet cavitation increase.When vortex generator installed on the hull,the sheet cavitation inception occurs in advance at-60°(300°),and the sheet cavitation expands to larger rotation range due to the vortex generator.It is shown that the vortex generator with proper geometry and installed location may contribute the highly nonuniform wake to be more uniform,and can make the change of propeller cavitation to be milder,which decrease the pressure fluctuations in this study.Further analysis indicates that the vortex generator may promote the energy distribution to be more uniform in physical and spectral space in some degree.

PREDICTION OF HYDRODYNAMIC PERFORMANCE OF THE FLAP RUDDER

In this paper a new method for predicting the hydrodynamic performance of the flap rudder behind a propeller was presented. The hydrodynamics of the rudder was calculated by the panel method and the performance of the propeller was predicted by the simplified propeller theory. The interaction between the rudder and propeller was determined by iterative procedure. The pressure distribution on rudder surface and the hydrodynamic performance of the flap rudder were discussed in the paper.