Prediction Of Hydrodynamic Performance On Propeller By High-Order Surface Panel Method

With the development of the world shipping and Computational Fluid Dynamics, the propeller, as one of the widely used ship impeller, is progressing continuously. Using theory numerical calculation method in designing propeller can make it has more flexibility and make a accurate prediction of the hydrodynamic performance of the propeller, using this method can enhance the propeller's efficiency and avoid the vibration and noise. So, an in-depth study in how to make a accurate prediction of the hydrodynamic performance of the propeller is very important.Without any hypothesis of the propeller's geometry, the Surface Panel Method satisfy the body surface boundary condition on the fact body surface, and make the geometry representation of the propeller more precise, the mathematical model is more perfect. We can make a accurate prediction of the propeller's thrust, torque and the pressure distribution on the blade. Now, many academic institutions use this method for solving the prediction of the propeller's hydrodynamic performance and the pressure distribution on the blade. At the present time, the research in Surface Panel Method is on the way from low-order to high-order for enhance the calculational precision and accelerate the non-linearity iterative convergence.This dissertation use a High-Order Surface Panel Method based on B-Spline for predicting the hydrodynamic performance of the propeller in steady flow. The B-Splme is applied not only to representation of the propeller's geometry, but also to represent the doublet strength distribution on the surface of the propeller, Which makes the geometry representation and the doublet strength distribution of the propeller more precise. In this method, the interpolation polynomial is related to several cells nearby, so the body surface is smooth, the potential function and its derivative is uninterrupted on the whole surface. Moreover, because the interpolation based on B-Spline is very accurate, it can enhance the efficiency of calculation and make a good numerical result by coarse gridding.As applications of this method, the propeller's thrust, torque and the pressure distribution on the blade in steady flow are solved. The numerical results are in satisfactory agreement with experiment data. This research is useful in predicting of the hydrodynamic performance and in enhancing the prediction precision of the propeller by using High-Order Surface Panel Method.