A Panel Method with a Full Wake Alignment Model for the Prediction of the Performance of Ducted Propellers

An improved perturbation potential based panel method is applied to model the flow around ducted propellers. One significant development in this method is the application of full wake alignment scheme in which the trailing vortex wake sheets of the blades are aligned with the local flow velocity by also considering the effects of duct and duct wake. A process of repaneling the duct is simultaneously introduced to improve the accuracy of the method. The results from the improved wake model are compared with those from a simplified wake alignment scheme. At the same time, full-blown Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations are conducted via commercial solvers. The forces, i.e., thrust and torque, on the propeller predicted by this panel method under the improved wake alignment model show good agreement both with experimental measurements, a hybrid method developed by the Ocean Engineering Group of University of Texas at Austin, and the full-blown RANS simulations. Moreover, predicted pressure distribution on the blades and duct are compared among the various methods.