Numerical analysis of the performance of a composite marine propeller blade subject to structural blade oscillations

Abstract

High-fidelity Large Eddy Simulations (LES) are conducted over the oscillating marine propeller blades to investigate the effects of blade oscillation on the unsteady flow behaviour as well as to analyse the performance of the composite marine propeller blades. The accuracy of the results is first verified against the reference experimental results. A nonlinear frequency-domain solution or harmonic solution method is also applied to this study, based on a high-fidelity LES model, in addition to the traditional time-domain solution method to investigate the capabilities of the frequency-domain method in predicting the unsteady flow parameters, vortex generation, and hydrodynamic damping to determine the stability of the propeller blades. Results obtained reveal that the oscillation of the blade has a great impact on the vortex generation process which could impose implications on the performance and structural integrity of the composite marine propeller blades.