Numerical Analysis of Open-Water Propeller Performance and Submarine Hull Drag

Abstract

The selection of appropriate propeller size meets the need of a submarine to move forward with the desired velocity against hull drag. In the present study, the Open-water behavior of a B-series four-bladed propeller and hull drag of a submarine with a realistic geometry have been studied through numerical simulation by using the ANSYS-Fluent software platform. The rotation of the propeller has been given by frame motion and the Shear Stress Transport (SST) k-ω model has been used for turbulence flow modeling. The grid independence test has also been performed at the onset. The propeller performance coefficients and submarine hull drag have been obtained by varying flow velocity. This result has helped in predicting the maximum thrust of the propeller and maximum velocity of the submarine. For validation purposes, the results of propeller coefficients obtained from numerical simulation have been compared with experimental data of existing literature and found good acceptance.