Dynamic Behaviour of the Loads of Podded Propellers in Waves - Experimental and Numerical Simulations

The paper focuses on the hydrodynamic flow around a ship with pods in waves and compares the results of an experimental campaign with numerical simulations conducted during the EU-funded STREAMLINE project. It was the first project for which the effect of waves on cavitation and ventilation was explored in both experimental and numerical ways for a ship with pods. The measurements were carried out in MARIN’s Depressurized Wave Basin (DWB) with a fully instrumented podded ship model, in sailing condition, in waves and depressurised conditions. In this way, the correct representation of cavitation and possible ventilation bubbles and vortices is ensured, resulting in a correct physical behaviour. The discretisation of the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes Equations (RANSE) is based on the unstructured finite-volume flow solver ISIS-CFD developed by ECN-CNRS. An essential feature for full RANSE simulations with this code is the use of a sliding grid technique to simulate the real propeller rotating behind a ship hull. The computational study in operational service conditions considered here has been conducted to evaluate the instantaneous flow distribution around the podded propellers and to analyse and to compare the unsteady behaviour of the forces induced by the rotating propeller in waves with the measurements from omnidirectional propeller loads as well as the blade forces and moments. The computational study has been done in model and full scale to evaluate the scale effects.