An experimental and numerical investigation of propeller-rudder-hull interaction in the presence of tip vortex cavitation (TVC)

This paper presents the investigation of propeller-rudder-hull interaction by using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), and Experimental Fluid Dynamics (EFD) approaches including the propeller's performance in cavitating conditions, particularly the effect of the tip vortex cavitation on the interaction phenomenon. The investigation was focused on the recently generated benchmark test data for the research catamaran, The Princess Royal, and its scaled model which was tested for cavitation and noise investigations in the large circulating water channel of CNR-INM, Italy within the scope of the European collaborative project. The propeller-rudder-hull interaction of a 1/3.4 scaled model of this vessel was simulated by using the commercial CFD software, STAR-CCM+, which implemented the Schnerr–Sauer cavitation model for the cavitation effect. Large Eddy Simulations (LES) was used for a better resolution of high velocity and pressure gradients to model the tip vortex cavitation. A new adaptive meshing technique using a Mesh Adoption Refinement Approach for Cavitation Simulations (MARCS) was applied for more effective modelling of the tip vortex cavitation during the propeller-rudder-hull interaction. The results of the CFD simulations were compared with the EFD data, particularly for the cavitation dynamics.