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Mechanisms of evolution of the propeller wake in the transition and far fields

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2011

M. FELLI ,
R. CAMUSSI  and
F. DI FELICE
M. FELLI*
Affiliation:
CNR-INSEAN, Italian Ship Model Basin, Via di Vallerano 139, 00128 Rome, Italy
R. CAMUSSI
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Meccanica e Industriale, Universit'a Roma Tre, Via della Vasca Navale 79, 00146, Italy
F. DI FELICE
Affiliation:
CNR-INSEAN, Italian Ship Model Basin, Via di Vallerano 139, 00128 Rome, Italy
*
†Email address for correspondence: m.felli@insean.it
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Abstract

In the present study the mechanisms of evolution of propeller tip and hub vortices in the transitional region and the far field are investigated experimentally. The experiments involved detailed time-resolved visualizations and velocimetry measurements and were aimed at examining the effect of the spiral-to-spiral distance on the mechanisms of wake evolution and instability transition. In this regard, three propellers having the same blade geometry but different number of blades were considered. The study outlined dependence of the wake instability on the spiral-to-spiral distance and, in particular, a streamwise displacement of the transition region at the increasing inter-spiral distance. Furthermore, a multi-step grouping mechanism among tip vortices was highlighted and discussed. It is shown that such a phenomenon is driven by the mutual inductance between adjacent spirals whose characteristics change by changing the number of blades.

JFM classification

Vortex Flows: Vortex breakdown Vortex Flows: Vortex dynamics Vortex Flows: Vortex instability
Type
Papers
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 682 , 10 September 2011 , pp. 5 - 53
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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