An experimental investigation of hydrodynamic performance, cavitation, and noise of a normal skew B-series marine propeller in the cavitation tunnel

• DOI: 10.1016/j.oceaneng.2021.109739
• Publication Date: 2021-08-27T04:42:44Z
• Authors: A. Ebrahimi; A.H. Razaghian; A. Tootian; M.S. Seif
• Keywords: 0103 physical sciences; 01 natural sciences; 7. Clean energy

Abstract In this paper, the hydrodynamic performance, cavitation inception, and acoustic performance of a 5-bladed B-series propeller are experimentally investigated in the Sharif University of Technology cavitation tunnel. For hydrodynamic performance, thrust, torque, and efficiency of the propeller model were measured in open water tests. In the cavitation study, in addition to blade cavitation, tip vortex cavitation was also observed, and the cavitation bucket diagram was extracted in different advance coefficients. Finally, for the acoustic analysis of the propeller, the emitted noise in the cavitation tunnel was recorded using two hydrophones according to the recommended procedures of the International Towed Tank Conference (ITTC). Accordingly, the effects of the propeller ambient pressure and cavitation number on the sound pressure level of the B-series propeller are determined. The results can be used to determine the effects of flow parameters on the hydrodynamic and acoustic characteristics of the propeller. Moreover, points of cavitation inception are obtained in all advance coefficients, and it will be possible to extract the proper operating depth without cavitation or lower cavitation.