Machine computation of marine propeller characteristics¹

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Kerwin, J.E.

Affiliations: Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering

Note: [1] This work was done in part at the M.I.T. Computation Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Abstract: In this paper, the well-known hydrodynamic solution for an optimum open-water propeller is applied to the case where the performance of a given propeller is to be determined at one or more specified advance ratios. Although this was accomplished basically by working the design method backwards, it was found that a re-analysis of portions of the procedure were necessary in order to permit its application in the more general case. The procedure was programmed for the IBM 704 Computer, and calculations were made for twenty-one B-Series propellers. These results include KT, KQ and η over the normal range of J values, as well as the radial distribution of the significant hydrodynamic quantities at each J value calculated. A comparison of these results with the original B-Series test data indicates reasonably close over-all agreement between the two. However, in many instances large discrepancies exist, indicating that existing techniques are not entirely satisfactory, even in the ideal case of an essentially optimum open-water propeller.

DOI: 10.3233/ISP-1959-66001

Journal: International Shipbuilding Progress, vol. 6, no. 60, pp. 343-354, 1959