Cavitating Propeller Flows Predicted by RANS Solver with Structured Grid and Small Reynolds Number Turbulence Model Approach

Within the EU research project VIRTUE and Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation (TEKES) project VIRKOOT, a propeller is investigated in uniform and nonuniform inflow conditions by means of a RANS equation solver, FINFLO. The analyses are made in wetted and cavitating conditions. The simulations are conducted on a model scale and the results are compared with the measurements and cavitation tests performed by INSEAN. The predicted propeller open water thrust and torque are found to be within 5 % of the measured ones. The pressure peak at the leading edge of a blade is found to be sensitive to the grid resolution. The predicted cavitation behavior of the propeller blades is in reasonable accordance with the cavitation test observations. In uniform inflow the vaporized region is overpredicted. Contrastingly, the vaporized region is underpredicted in the nonuniform inflow calculations. The cavitation behavior trends seemed to be similar in the simulations and observations in nonuniform inflow. The loading histories of the wetted and cavitating propeller over one propeller revolution are almost the same due to the relative small cavitating region in the investigated conditions. The pressure distributions at several blade positions on the suction side of the propeller are shown in wetted and cavitating conditions for comparison.