From model-scale propellers to full-scale ships: a (wind-assisted) CFD voyage.

Title: From model-scale propellers to full-scale ships: a (wind-assisted) CFD voyage.
Speaker: Rui Lopes, PhD, Division of Marine Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Time and place: May 11, 13:15, Room VDL

Abstract:
Wind-assisted ship propulsion (WASP) currently drives a large part of research in the maritime community. The coexistence between a marine propeller and a wind propulsion unit causes the propeller to operate in a wide range of conditions which can differ greatly from a conventional design condition, due to the varying load on the propeller and oblique inflow caused by a possible yaw angle typical of wind propulsion. These aspects impact propeller design and rudder operation and influence scaling effects. The latter can be assessed with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), which has become increasingly common in industrial settings. However, CFD at full-scale has not yet reached the same level of maturity that it has at model-scale, in part due to the lack of sea trial data.

This presentation will provide an overview of four years of investigations on how propeller and rudder performance is influenced by WASP, and efforts in advancing the maturity level of full-scale CFD simulations in the maritime context. The presentation is given in three parts:

1. CFD with sea trial comparisons, covering the contributions to and outcomes of the JoRes project, the Lucy Ashton resistance prediction workshop, and the Wageningen 2025 workshop;

2. Propeller performance in a WASP context, addressing the influence of laminar-to-turbulent transition, roughness modelling, oblique inflow and scaling effects for a conventional propeller and a WASP-tailored propeller design;

3. Propeller-rudder interaction effects, focusing on rudder performance for variable propeller loading at model-scale, with an investigation into the effects of different turbulence models and influence of propeller pitch on rudder and system performanc