The Wageningen B-Screw Series

The Wageningen B-screw series have been extended gradually to 21 screw series having blade numbers ranging from 2 to 7 and blade-area ratios between 0.30 and 1.05. Recently, the existing screw series were correlated with the new screw series with an up-to-date fairing technique. This correlation was made by means of a regression analysis. Further, the influence of the Reynolds number (scale effect) on the test results was taken into account. For ship maneuvering studies, it is necessary to know the propeller thrust and torque characteristics over a wider range of operating conditions. Therefore, open-water tests with B-series screws over the entire region of operation were carried out. In order to obtain systematic knowledge on the cavitation characteristics of the B-screw series in a uniform flow, tests have been conducted. The curves for cavitation inception were established and the influence of cavitation on propeller thrust and torque was determined.