Endplate effect propellers: A numerical overview

Energy saving is a primary objective, historically the first and, probably still now, the most important one, in the design of marine propellers. Modern design approaches, like fully numerical lifting line/lifting surface codes and optimization applied to potential panel methods satisfy this objective and allow to design conventional propellers with maximum efficiency for a given operating point. On the other hand nonconventional propellers, like CLT and Kappel like geometries, represent a further opportunity to increase efficiency and reduce the risk of cavitation. In the present work a numerical analysis of unconventional propellers will be carried out. Two different numerical approaches, a potential panel method and a RANS solver will be employed. The analysis will highlights the peculiarities of these kind of propellers, the possibility to increase efficiency and reduce cavitation risk, in order to exploit the design approaches already well proven for conventional propellers also in the case of these unconventional geometries. © 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, UK.