Shaft and blade load measurements on a highly skewed propeller model in ice

The research described herein was completed with the intention of determining the loading experienced by an individual highly skewed blade during the ice interaction process. It documents the results of a series of ice milling tests using a highly skewed propeller model. This 4-bladed model was designed to be tested in the ice tank at the National Research Council of Canada's Institute for Marine Dynamics (HAD). In this series of tests, loads experienced by an individual blade, as well as the conventionally measured shaft loads, were recorded. The blade loads were measured using a purpose built, hub-mounted dynamometer to which one propeller blade was mounted. Testing was completed over a range of pitch settings for the controllable pitch blades, including design, reduced and reverse settings. As well, tests at a range of ice cut depths and advance ratios were conducted to observe the effect of each of these on the blade loads. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).