Alan C. McClure Associates (ACMA), announces that the company recently successfully completed several
Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations of propeller flow for a vessel
owner/operator.
“Traditional model testing for propellers has usually relied
on scale models, and frequently neglects the effects of flow about the vessel
hull prior to encountering the propeller. Full-scale testing is often
impractical and introduces additional environmental variables to the test data,”
says Darrel Harvey, the Houston-based naval architecture and engineering firm’s
vice president, in a company press release.
“On the other hand,” Harvey continues, “CFD allows for
full-scale simulations of not only a rotating propeller, but also of flow around
a hull form, rudders and associated structural elements. This type of
simulation captures effects of hull form on the uniformity of flow in three dimensions,
identifying differences in flow velocity entering the propeller from top to
bottom and side to side. In this particular case, our simulations verified what
the vessel had been experiencing during operations.”
“A detailed CFD analysis including a rotating propeller can
capture the dynamic effects of impulse loading on the hull as well as the
interaction of flow with steering equipment,” adds Scott McClure, ACMA’s president.
“ACMA has also performed simplified propeller flow analyses by simulating the
propeller as a momentum source, governed by performance curves.
“Bottom line,” McClure concludes, “this advanced analysis can
save owner/operators a considerable amount of time and money by identifying
potential problems prior to construction.”