Numerical Analysis of Hydrodynamic Performance and Flow around Contra-Rotating Propellers

Computational hydrodynamics method was formulated and implemented for marine propellers. In this paper, a design methodology for predicting steady hydrodynamic performance of contra rotating propeller (CRP) has been developed based on boundary element method. The potential flow around fore propeller and aft propeller has been analyzed. In addition, with computation of induced wake distribution, interaction between fore and aft propellers are contemplated. This method for a typical contra-rotating propeller is applied. The results include hydrodynamic performance coefficients, overall force and torque on the CRP, circulation distributions and comparison of induced wake at position of distance between two propellers and induced wake at position of downstream of aft propeller. Numerical results show that the hydrodynamic performance predictions agree well with the experiment data.