Numerical investigation of the effects of camber ratio on the hydrodynamic performance of a marine propeller

In this research, effects of the camber ratio distribution over the blades of a NACA marine propeller were numerically investigated on its open water hydrodynamic performance characteristic curves. To investigate this problem, Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations were solved using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Results are presented in terms of vorticity, pressure coefficient, hydrodynamic efficiency, thrust and torque coefficients, and hydrodynamic performance characteristic curves. Results show that the location of the maximum efficiency of the propeller is unchanged versus advance coefficient by changing the camber ratio over the blades. It is shown that magnitudes of the efficiency, torque, thrust, vorticity, pressure coefficient, and the width of the efficiency curve are changed non-linearly by changing the camber ratio.