Hydroelastic Analysis of Composite Marine Propeller Basis Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI)

In recent decades, there has been a growing demand for composite materials with high strength to weight ratio and high stiffness to weight ratio for use in the marine industry to improve the hydrodynamic and structural performance of vessels and propulsion systems. Apart from the advantages of composite propellers over their metal counterparts, deformations of these propellers under loading can alter their hydrodynamic effects. This paper was a hydroelastic analysis of a composite marine propeller made of carbon fiber laminate. This analysis was performed by the use of CFD-FEM based on the two-way fluid-structure interaction (FSI) coupling on the 3D geometry of the KP458 propeller. The CFD results are compared with the experimental data reported by Hyundai Maritime Research Institute (HMRI), for advance ratios of 0.1-0.5, which shows a perfect agreement among them. An increase in the efficiency of the flexible propeller is observed in different advance ratios due to an increase in thrust (1-4%) and a decrease in torque (1-6%).