Computation of Unsteady Viscous Marine-Propulsor Blade Flows—Part 2: Parametric Study

Abstract

In this two-part paper, time-accurate solutions of the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations are presented, which address through model problems, the response of turbulent propeller-blade boundary layers and wakes to external-flow traveling waves. In Part 1, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology flapping-foil experiment was simulated and the results validated through comparisons with data. The response was shown to be significantly more complex than classical unsteady boundary layer and unsteady lifting flows thus motivating further study. In Part 2, the effects of frequency, waveform, and foil geometry are investigated. The results demonstrate that uniquely different response occurs for low and high frequency. High-frequency response agrees with behavior seen in the flapping-foil experiment, whereas low-frequency response displays a temporal behavior which more closely agrees with classical inviscid-flow theories. Study of waveform and geometry show that, for high frequency, the driving mechanism of the response is a viscous-inviscid interaction created by a near-wake peak in the displacement thickness which, in turn, is directly related to unsteady lift and the oscillatory wake sheet. Pressure waves radiate upstream and downstream of the displacement thickness peak for high frequency flows. Secondary effects, which are primarily due to geometry, include gust deformation due to steady-unsteady interaction and trailing-edge counter-rotating vortices which create a two-layered amplitude and phase-angle profile across the boundary layer.