A reliable simulation for hydrodynamic performance prediction of surface-piercing propellers using URANS method

Surface Piercing Propellers (SPPs) are a particular kind of propellers which are partially submerged operating at the interface of air and water. They are more efficient than submerged propellers for the propulsion system of high-speed crafts because of larger propeller diameter, replacing cavitation with ventilation, decreasing the torque and higher efficiency. This study presents a reliable numerical simulation to predict SPP performance using Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) method. A numerical study on 841-B SPP is performed in open water condition. The free surface is modeled by Volume of Fluid (VOF) approach and the sliding mesh technique is implemented to model the propeller rotational motion. The sliding mesh allows capturing the process of water entry and water exit of blades. The propeller hydrodynamic characteristics, the ventilation pattern and the time history of blade loads are validated through the comparison with available experimental data. For the studied case, it was found that the common grid independence study approach is not sufficient. The grid should be elaborately generated fine enough based on the flow pattern and turbulence modeling parameters in regions near the blade's tip, trailing and leading edges and over the suction side. Details of URANS simulations including optimal time-step size based on propeller revolution rate and the required number of propeller revolutions for periodical results are presented and discussed.