Design and Stability of Composite Ship Propeller Using Fem Analyses

DESIGN AND STABILITY OF COMPOSITE SHIP PROPELLER
USING FEM ANALYSES

A SRINIVAS [1], K VENKATA SIVARAO [2], S A K JEELANI [3]
[1] Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering, Tirumala Engineering College, Narsaraopeta, India
[2] Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering, Tirumala Engineering College, Narsaraopeta, India.
[3] Associtive Professor, Mechanical Engineering, Pragati Engineering College, Surampalem, India
ABSTRACT:
A propeller is used to generate thrust to propel a ship. When an object is moved rapidly through the water, the pressure in the
liquid adjacent to body drops in proportion to the square of local flow velocity. If the local pressure drops below the vapor
pressure of surrounding liquid, small pockets or cavities of vapor are formed. This is called Cavitation. This project aims to
estimate how much of deviations and stresses acting on the propeller blades, and optimization of the lay-up angle. The scaled
model is validated based on the known experimental results.
1. INTRODUCTION
The propeller is that component of the ship which converts the engine power into the driving force of the ship. These days,
conventional marine propellers remain the standard propulsion mechanism for surface ships and underwater vehicles. Cavitation occurs when the
local absolute pressure is less than local vapor pressure for the fluid medium. In fluid power applications the evaporation pressure is reached
when flow velocity is increased sufficiently. Cavitation may lead to expensive problems if not acknowledged in an early design stage.
The inception of cavitation on hydrofoil is a basic phenomenon in hydrodynamics which refers to the appearance of vapour phase when
liquid flows around a hydrofoil. For thin hydrofoils at moderate angle of attack, the first occurrence of cavitation is closely related to the minimum
pressure near the leading edge according to [1-5]. Under these conditions the inception of cavitation marks the establishment of relatively large
separated flow of vapour on the upper surface near the leading edge commonly referred to as sheet cavitation. Once sheet cavitation is developed,
pressure on the upper surface of the hydrofoil is higher than the non cavitating flow. This in turn limits the hydrofoils maximum lift, increases drag,
changes the pitching moment. This may also responsible for propeller’s noise and vibration as well as efficiency drop and material erosion. The
typical design objective is to delay cavitation to higher angles of attack in order to widen the performance of propeller’s blades.
Minimum pressure coefficient (Cpmin) is used to measure and correlate

cavitation inception. For a given hydrofoil at a fixed angle of attack
Cavitation inception index (σi) tends to increase with flow Reynolds
number. Various studies provided the cavitation inception index at
various angles of attack. Increasing the angle of attack up to the stall
angle at a fixed Reynolds’s number also causes to increase in cavitation
inception index [2].Cavitation inception is dependent on various effects
such as surface roughness, cavitation nuclei and transport of non
condensable gases [6].Self-twisting composite marine propellers, when
subject to hydrodynamic loading, will not only automatically bend but
also twist due to passive bend–twist (BT) coupling characteristics of FRP
composites. To exploit the BT coupling effects of self-twisting propellers,
CFD methodology is proposed, formulated, and implemented[7].
Fig 1.1: Description of hydrofoil
Fig1.2: Working principle of a propeller

This complex analysis can be easily solved by numerical techniques. Cavitation inception is of direct importance to Navy vessels,
because of the sudden increase in noise levels causes to trouble from stealth point of view at the onset of cavitation.As cavitation
plays an important role for better efficiency of the propeller at higher speeds, so the cavitation inception point is to be found out for
the propeller by performing flow analysis under open water conditions. We presented CFD simulations for cavitation inception
around a marine propeller using a commercial CFD code Fluent6.3.
1.8 PROBLEM DEFINITION
Propeller being an important component for propulsion, more emphasis is done on design of the propeller. It has to withstand to
the high pressure acting over on it. Numerical analysis performed on propeller for improving cavitation inception of propeller.
1.9 ORGANIZATION OF THE WORK
This project deals with the study of modeling and analysis of a ship propeller. In this report, chapter one gives brief idea about the need of the
project, history and the geometry of a propeller blade. The second chapter presents a brief report on literature survey, which reviews the present
status of research in the field of cavitation analysis of propellers. The chapter three covers the overview a cavitation inception and effects of
cavitation. Chapter four gives idea of modeling and meshing of propeller. The fifth chapter includes brief theory about CFD and steps involved
for flow analysis performed under open water conditions for finding the pressures on the surface of the blade and finding the cavitation inception
point at a particular speed and increasing Cavitation inception. The finite element analysis is carried out on the metallic and composite propeller
by mapping the cfd pressures. In the last chapter conclusions are included.
2.0MODELING OF PROPELLER
2.1GEOMETRIC MODELING.
Modeling of the propeller is done using CATIA V5 R 17. In order to model the blade, it is necessary to have sections of the propeller at various
radii. These sections are drawn and rotated through their respective pitch angles. Then all rotated sections are projected onto right circular
cylinders of respective radii as shown in figure5.1. Now by using multi section
Finally surface model is made into solid by closing all the

surfaces edges and filling the volume between the surfaces with solid.
Figure:construction of hydrofoils by joining of points on surface of the blade
Dimensions of propeller.
Propeller diameter (D) = 1.4m
Number of blades (z) =4
Hub Length = 385mm
Hub diameter = 320mm
Rotational speed (N) = 778.6rpm
Fig:final solid model of propeller

3.PROBLEM DISCRIPTION
In the problem is described as the design and structural analysis of a composite trunked propeller. the required results and discussions are
1. The Max. deflection of trunked propeller using pressure mapping?
2. The maximum deflection of composite propeller ?
3. Maximum induced von misses stress for aluminum ?
4. Maximum interlaminar shear stress for composite ?
5. Maximum normal stress in X-direction ?
6. Maximum normal stress in Y-direction ?
7. Maximum normal stress in Z-direction ?
4 FE MODELING
4.1 FE Mesh generation using hypermesh10.0 for metallic propeller.
The solid model is imported to HyperMesh10.0 and hexahedral mesh is generated for the same using the Element SOLID 46 which is an 8 noded
layered solid element. The material type is given below.the mesh generation processes is first 2d mesh is generated on one side surface of the
blade, and that 2d elements are project on other side. after that by using the 3d solid map tool the solid elements are generated by using the 2d
elements. this process is continue to remaining blade and hub portion.The 2d elements and surfaces are deleted from the model, Apply the
pressures obtained from cfd analysis on all the elements. Constrains are also give to the model at the inside of the hub. after that insert the
materials and element type in models. And the material and element types are assigned to the elements. these all are done in utility menu. the
model is export to ansys .cdb file.
The solid model is imported to HyperMesh10.0 and hexahedral mesh
is generated for the same using the Element SOLID 46 which is an 8
noded layered solid element. The material type and lay-up is given in
bellow
the mesh generation processes is first 2d mesh is generated on one side

surface of the blade, and that 2d elements are project on other side.
after that by using the 3d solid map tool the solid elements are
generated by using the 2d elements. this process is continue to
remaining blade and hub portion.
for composite material assign the number of layers and thickness of
Hexahedral mesh for metallic aluminum propeller the each layer to the all the elements in the model. And ply angle for
FE Mesh generation using hypermesh10.0 for composite each elements are apply. Apply the pressures obtained from cfd
analysis on all the elements, Constrains are also give to the model at
propeller. the inside of the hub.
that insert the materials and element type in models. And the material and element types are assigned to the elements. these all are done in
utility menu. the model is export to ansys .cdb file.that file open into the ansys10 structural analysis is done for the model. the same process is
repeat for the all the loads getting fro cfd analysis
MATERIAL PROPETIES
The mater used for the metallic propeller is aluminum
The properties aluminum are given below
METAL = Aluminum,
Young's Modulus, E= 70Gpa
Density, ρ= 2.7e-9Ns2/mm4
Poisson Ratio, μ= 0.3
A material is create with the given properties and assign to elements
in the hyper mesh utility menu component manager.
Hexahedral mesh for composite propeller
4.2 ANALYSIS OF METALIC PROPELLER

The analysis of metallic propeller starts with assigning the metallic properties, element type, and real set number for the propeller elements. Solid
46 and solid 45 tow type of elements created in the utility menu of hyper mesh. Assign the real set number to elements.
4.3 Boundary conditions and loading
The boundary conditions are created at the inside of the hub, constraints are created at the inside of the hub at each node o elements. The created
constraints give to all degree of freedom.
Loading: the pressures obtained from the cfd analysis are in the form of techplot, that techplot file is split in the hyper mesh, user profile cfd, cfd
input output utility menu. The pressure file generated. Those pressures are directly applied on the elements analysis pressure tool. Later the file is
export to hyper mesh to ansys by using export tool.
The pressures obtained from the cfd analysis at different rotational speeds and advanced velocities are applied on the
propeller.
Advanced velocity 16knots 530rpm 600rpm 650rpm 700rpm 747rpm The all pressure obtained from the above conditions
speed speed speed speed speed from the cfd are applied to propeller blades and
prepare a file for structural analysis.The structural
Advanced velocity 16knots 530rpm 600rpm 650rpm 700rpm 747rpm analysis is carried out using the ansys 10 software.Find
speed speed speed speed speed out the deformation and vonmises stresses
Advanced velocity 16knots 530rpm 600rpm 650rpm 700rpm 747rpm
speed speed speed speed speed
Advanced velocity 16knots
530rpm 600rpm 650rpm 700rpm 747rpm
TABLE.CFD OPERATING CONDITIONS FOR PRESSURE
RESULTS OF COMPOSITE PROPELLER
DEFORMATIONS TABLE
Speed 530rpm Speed at600rpm Speed at 650rpm Speed at 700rpm Speed at 747.28
0.0105 0.0211 0.022 0.033 0.1639
At Advanced velocity 16knots deformation(mm)
At Advanced velocity 18knots deformation(mm) 0.0215 0.0375 0.0691 0.1028 0.1359

TABLE:DEFORMATIONS TABLE FOR METALLIC PROPELLER
5.0ANALYSIS OF COMPOSITE PROPELLER
The analysis of composite propeller starts with assigning the metallic properties, element type, and real set number for the propeller elements.
Solid 46 and solid 45 tow type of elements created in the utility menu of hyper mesh. Assign the real set number to elements.
5.1 MATERIAL PROPETIES A material is creating with the given properties and assign to elements
The mater used for the metallic propeller is Carbon-UD in the hyper mesh utility menu component manager.
The properties aluminum are given below 6b.ply angle
METAL = Corbon-UD, the ply angle for the the layers assigned to the all elements are
Young's Modulus, Ex= 75Gpa Ey=10Gpa Ez=10Gpa required. In the below one type of lay up sequence is given.
Density, ρ= 1.6e-9Ns2/mm4
Nxy= 0.16, Nyz= 0-35 Nzx= 0.16
Rigidity modulus, Gxy=5.2Gpa, Gyz= 3.8Gpa, Gzx=6Gpa
TABLE. LAY – UP SEQUENCE FOR TRINKET PROPELLER:

Ply No. Matl. No. Angle of ply
1 0°
11 1 00
2 2 0°
12 1 0°
3 2 45°
13 1 0°
4 2 -45° 14 1 0°
5 2 90°
15 1 90°
6 2 0°
16 1 45°
7 2 0°
17 1 0°
8 2 45°
18 1 0°
9 1 45° 19 1 -45°
10 1 450 20 1 90
1. Total layers = 42
2. Repeat 20 to 1 after 21st layers
5.2 SOLID46 Element Description (from ANSYS library)

SOLID46 is a layered version of the 8-node structural solid (SOLID45) designed to model layered thick shells or solids. The element
allows up to 250 different material layers. If more than 250 layers are required, a user-input constitutive matrix option is available. The element
may also be stacked as an alternative approach. The element has three degrees of freedom at each node: translations in the nodal x, y, and z
directions.
xo = Element x-axis if ESYS is not supplied.

x = Element x-axis if ESYS is supplied.
The meshed model is shown in figure6.18 Boundary
conditions are applied to meshed model. The contact surface
between hub and shaft is fixed in all degrees of freedom.
Number of nodes =20288
Number of elements = 15720
Aspect ratio =5
Jacobian =0.7
Fig6.1. SOLID46 Geometry
 Material properties are incorporated into the material data

in HyperMesh10.0.
 3D composite element layers were stacked according the
measured thickness of each element.
CFD pressures imported to Hyper Mesh from fluent
through tecplot. These pressures are mapped to FE model of composite
propeller in Hyper Mesh 10.0.Both Boundary and load conditions are
shown in fig6.19.
Hexahedral mesh for composite propeller
5.3Boundary conditions and loading

The boundary conditions are created at the inside of the hub, constraints are created at the inside of the hub at each node o elements. The created
constraints give to all degree of freedom.
Loading: the pressures obtained from the cfd analysis are in the form of techplot, that techplot file is split in the hyper mesh, user profile cfd, cfd
input output utility menu. The pressure file generated. Those pressures are directly applied on the elements analysis pressure tool.
Later the file is export to hyper mesh to ansys by using export tool.
STEPS IN FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF
PROPELLER USING ANSYS:
 Importing the Hyper Mesh file to ANSYS.
 Processed the static analysis.
 The nodal displacements and stresses are plotted.
 The deflection for metal and composite propeller is
plotted.
 von mises stress and Interlaminar shear stresses are
also plotted.
Fig6.3. Pressure mapping and Boundary conditions imposed on FE Model
Thus the deck generated from HyperMesh10.0 is imported to ANSYS11.0 with all boundary conditions.
The pressures obtained from the cfd analysis at different rotational speeds and advanced velocities are applied on the
propeller.
Advanced velocity 530rpm speed 600rpm speed 650rpm speed 700rpm speed 747rpm speed
16knots
16knots
16knots
16knots
16knots
16knots
16knots
16knots
TABLE5. DEFORMATIONS TABLEFOR COMPOSITE PROPLLER
Speed at 530rpm Speed at600rpm Speed at 650rpm Speed at 700rpm

At Advanced velocity 16knots deformation(mm) 0.139 0.1714 0.2726 0.344
Table:CFD OPERATING CONDITIONS FOR PRESSURE
6.0 LINEAR STATIC ANALYSIS
Linear static analysis is concerned with the behavior of elastic continua under prescribed boundary conditions and statically applied loads. The applied load
in this case is thrust acting on blades. Under water vehicle with contra rotating propeller is chosen for FE analysis. The FE analysis is carried out using
ANSYS. The deformations and stresses are calculated for NAB alloy (isotropic) and composite propeller (orthotropic material). In composite propeller 4
cases are considered by varying, number of layers as 4, 8, 12, 16. For propeller blade analysis 3D solid element type 45(from ANSYS library) is considered
for aluminum and solid 46(from Ansys library) for composite propeller
RESULTS:
Metal propeller:
6.13Maximum deflection = Composite propeller: Figure 6.15: Max von misses 6.16 X-component stress Y-component stress
0.1639 mm Maximum deflection= stress of nAluminium propeller,
0.4836mm 27.53MPa
6.1 COMPARISION OF DEFORMATIONS OF METALIC AND COMPOSITE PROPELLER
In the comparison the metallic and composite propeller are for the applying pressures obtaining from cfd at different boundary conditions.the
graph drawn between the metallic and composite propeller. the graphs are given below.In the graph varying the advanced velocity deformations
are compared.
Advanced velocity 530rpm 600rpm 650rpm 700rpm 747rpm
16knots speed speed speed speed speed
TABLE86. CFD OPERATING CONDITIONS FOR PRESSURE.
7 .CONCLUSIONS
It is concluded from the results and discussions that
From FE analysis , following conclusions are drawn
1.The Max. deflection of trunked propeller is 0.1639 mm using pressure mapping
2.The maximum deflection of composite propeller is 0.4836 mm.
3.Maximum induced von misses stress for aluminum was found to be 27.53 MPa
4.Maximum interlaminar shear stress for composite was found to be 2.1227 Mpa.
5.Maximum normal stress in X-direction is 5.915Mpa.
6.Maximum normal stress in Y-direction is 6.028Mpa.
7.Maximum normal stress in Z-direction is 3.624Mpa.
8 .REFERENCES
1. Arakeri V.H and Accosta AJ 1973 “Viscous effects in the inception of cavitation on axisymmetric bodies”
2. Arakeri, V. H., 1975, “Viscous Effects on the Position of Cavitation Separation from Smooth Bodies,” J. Fluid Mech., 68, pp. 779–799.
3. Arakeri, V. H., Carroll, J. A., and Holl, J. W., 1981, “A Note on the Effect of Short and Long Laminar Separation Bubbles on Desinent
Cavitation,” ASME J. Fluids Eng., 103 1 , pp. 28–32.
4. Van der Meulen, J. H. J., 1978, “A Holographic Study of the Influence of Boundary Layer and Surface Characteristics on
Inception and Developed Cavitation on Axisymmetric Bodies,” Proceedings of 12th Symposium on Na- val Hydrodynamics,
Washington, DC, pp. 443–451.
5. Van der Meulen, J. H. J., 1980, “Boundary Layer and Cavitation Studies of NACA 16–012 and NACA 4412 Hydrofoils,”
Proceedings of 13th Symposium on Naval Hydrodynamics, Tokyo, Japan, pp. 195–219.
6. Billet, M. L., and Holl, J. W., 1981, “Scale Effects on Various Types of Limited Cavitation,” ASME J. Fluids Eng., 103 (3), pp. 405–
414.
7. Zhanke Liu and Yin L. Young 2009 “Utilization of bend twist coupling for performance enhancement of composite marine
propellers”, aDepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
8. Karl Randle and Peter Bull, “Predictions of the Thrust and Torque Performance for two Propeller Blades Using Computational Fluid
Dynamics” International Conference on marine CFD, march 2005
9. W. Wienken, “A Method to Predict CavitationInception Using Large-Eddy Simulation and its Application to the Flow Past a Square
Cylinder”, Institute of Fluid Mechanics, Technische Universität, Dresden, ASME, vol.128,2006.
10. G Cuiper 2001 “New developments around tip vortex and sheet cavitation on Ships’ propeller.
11. Sandor BERNAD, “NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CAVITATING FLOWS”, Center of Advanced Research in Engineering
Sciences, Romanian Academy, Timisoara Branch, Romania, 2006.
12. Takayuki Watanabe, Takafumi kawamura, Yoshihisa Takekoshi, “Simulation of steady and unsteady cavitating models around a
marine propeller using a RANS CFD code”, Masatsugu MAEDA, University of Japan, Tokyo, 2004.
13. Vijay H Arakeri 1978 “Cavitation inception” IISC Banglore, India, 1978.
14. FLUENT 6.3 Documentation user guide.
15. Taylor, D.w, “The Speed and Power and Ships”, Washington, 1933
16. J.E.Conolly, “Strength Of Propellers”, reads in London at a meeting of the royal intuition of naval architects on dec 1,1960,pp 139-
160
17. Terje sonntvedt, “Propeller Blade Stresses, Application Of Finite Element Methods”, computers and structures, vol.4,pp 193-204
19. M.jourdian, visitor and J.L.Armand. “Strength Of Propeller Blades-A Numerical Approach”, the society of naval architects and
marine engineers, may 24-25,1978,pp 201-213.
20. George W.Stickle and John L Crigler., “Propeller analysis from experimental data” report No.712, pp 147-164.

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DESIGN AND STABILITY OF COMPOSITE SHIP PROPELLER

USING FEM ANALYSES

Minimum pressure coefficient (Cpmin) is used to measure and correlate

Fig1.2: Working principle of a propeller

Finally surface model is made into solid by closing all the

Figure:construction of hydrofoils by joining of points on surface of the blade

Fig:final solid model of propeller

the mesh generation processes is first 2d mesh is generated on one side

Hexahedral mesh for composite propeller

4.2 ANALYSIS OF METALIC PROPELLER

At Advanced velocity 20knots deformation(mm) 0.0245 0.0216 0.0400 0.0735 0.0108

At Advanced velocity 24knots deformation(mm) 0.0329 0.0352 0.0374 0.0328 0.035

At Advanced velocity 25knots deformation(mm) 0.0252 0.0365 0.0397 0.0394 0.0319

At Advanced velocity 26knots deformation(mm) 0.0305 0.0369 0.0410 0.0433 0.0394

At Advanced velocity 28knots deformation(mm) 0.0356 0.0328 0.0422 0.0479 0.0503

At Advanced velocity 29knots deformation(mm) 0.0327 0.0304 0.0403 0.0495 0.0528

TABLE. LAY – UP SEQUENCE FOR TRINKET PROPELLER:

5.2 SOLID46 Element Description (from ANSYS library)

xo = Element x-axis if ESYS is not supplied.

Fig6.1. SOLID46 Geometry

 Material properties are incorporated into the material data

5.3Boundary conditions and loading

Fig6.3. Pressure mapping and Boundary conditions imposed on FE Model

Speed at 530rpm Speed at600rpm Speed at 650rpm Speed at 700rpm

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