Additive Manufacturing Application to a Ship Propeller Model for Experimental Activity in the Cavitation Tunnel

Additive manufacturing (AM), or three dimensional printing, is a modern way to build objects with possibly a high degree of accuracy and favorable cost/benefit ratio. This approach is widely used by many manufacturing industries and a certain interest for this innovative production technology is also growing in the ship design and production field. To this regard, the experimental activity at the model scale is often necessary for the ship performance assessment in the design phase. In the article, preliminary results of a propeller model for the cavitation tunnel, built with additive technology, are presented, showing the strengths and weaknesses of the printed model. Moreover, as an introductive overview, different AM technologies are briefly described, with the aim to point out potential applicability to ships.