Hydrodynamic and cavitation performance of podded propulsor under steering conditions

  Objectives  The interaction between the body of pod propulsor and the propeller is great, leading to complex flow phenomena.As a consequence, under steering condition which is away from design point, loads of blades change sharply and the cavity characteristics deteriorate.In order to analyze the hydrodynamic characteristics of the pod propulsor,

  Methods  the full structural grid based on the Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) approach is adopted.Besides, the cavity structures are predicted by the Sauer model.Finally, the model experiment of the pod propeller is carried out in the cavity channel.

  Results  The results show that the numerical data are in great agreement with the experiment counterparts which presents the correspondingly high accuracy of this numerical model.Under steering condition, the thrust and torque of pod propulsor are greater than the counterparts under straight condition.After the propulsor deflects, the pressure at different circumferential positions fluctuates with the change of circumferential angle.What's more, cavity contours show different structures and the cavitation intensifies as the deflection angle rises.

  Conclusions  The research results can provide reference for the design of pod propeller.