Theoretical investigation about the hydrodynamic performance of propeller in oblique flow

Abstract This paper establishes an iterative calculation model for the hydrodynamic performance of propeller in oblique flow based on low order potential based surface panel method. The hydrodynamic performance of propeller is calculated through panel method which is also used to calculate the induced velocity. The slipstream of propeller is adjusted according to the inflow velocity and the induced velocity. The oblique flow is defined by the axial inflow velocity and the incident angle. The calculation results of an instance show that the thrust and torque of propeller decrease with the increase of axial inflow velocity but increase with the incident angle. The unsteadiness of loads on the propeller blade surface gets more intensified with the increases of axial inflow velocity and incident angle. However, comparing with the effect of axial inflow velocity on the unsteadiness of the hydrodynamic performance of propeller, the effect of the incident angle is more remarkable.