Wake analysis of a tip loaded marine propeller using high-fidelity Large-Eddy Simulations (PROPLES)

Propellers are by far the major device for marine propulsion. The improvement of their efficiency is critical for reducing fuel consumption, resulting in beneficial effects on the economic and environmental costs of shipping. In addition, developing a better control of the wake features is also a priority. The wake of marine propellers is dominated by strong tip vortices, where cavitation phenomena usually occur. They are detrimental to the structural integrity of the propeller blades and any device placed downstream of them, as rudders. In addition, they are a very important source of noise, negatively affecting marine life. In this project a winglet propeller will be simulated across its operational range using high-fidelity, turbulence-resolving simulations on a computational grid consisting of 5 billion points, orders of magnitudes finer than in the typical approaches utilized by both industrial and academic research.