Analysis of Steady Viscous Flow around a Highly Skewed Propeller

Abstract

It is necessary to design a low noise propeller for oceanographic research ships and military ships. In order to reduce tip vortex cavitation, which is main source of propeller underwater noise, it is important to estimate the inception of the cavitation as accurately as possible. Since the cavitation-causing tip vortex is susceptible to viscosity strongly, the method of the estimation with high accuracy is not established. In this paper, the authors describe an analytical method of flow around a propeller as a first step. The paper presents computation results of the flow around a highly skewed propeller, which is a typical form of low noise propeller, and verification by comparison with the experimental data on public view. Furthermore, the paper presents an application to the evaluation of propeller noise level using the computed flow data.