Numerical investigation of the unsteady flow of a hybrid CRP pod propulsion system at behind-hull condition

Abstract Flows induced by hybrid CRP pod propulsion systems (CRP-POD) are fundamentally characterized by unsteadiness. This work presents a numerical study on the unsteady flow of a CRP-POD at behind-hull condition based on CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics). Unsteady RANS method is adopted, coupled with SST k-ω turbulence model and sliding mesh method. The propeller thrusts and torques obtained by CFD is validated by model tests and acceptable agreements are obtained. The time histories of shingle-blade loads and pressures near the hull surface are recorded for the analysis of unsteady flow features. The cases of forward propeller alone and aft propeller alone are also computed to distinguish the hull-propeller interaction and propeller-propeller interaction. The results show the blade loads of both forward and aft propellers strongly fluctuate with phase angles. For the forward propeller, the blade load fluctuation is mainly governed by the hull-propeller interaction, while the aft blade load is remarkably affected by the propeller-propeller interaction in terms of the load average and fluctuation pattern. The fields of pressure, vorticity and velocity are also analyzed to reveal the unsteady flow features.