Research on the Application of Body Force in Calculations for Submarine Powering Performance

Abstract

Using CFD software, the mean wake fraction and thrust deduction fraction are obtained by simulating the flow field around submarine with equally distributed body force adopted to simulate the affection of propeller. The open water performance of propeller 4118 was applied to calculate the rates of propeller rotation required by the submarine at different speeds and corresponding propulsive efficiencies. The comparison between these data and the calculated results of self-propulsion test indicates that a more accurate prediction of the submarine powering performance can be made with the mean wake fraction obtained near the leading edge of the propeller, and the computational error of propulsive efficiency can be reduced to 2%. Research of this paper shows that submarine powering performance can be calculated effectively with the propeller replaced by body force.