FIX PITCH PROPELLER

RISANDI DWIRAMA PUTRA POST GRADUATE STUDENT, DEPARTMENT MARINE TECHNOLOGY FACULTY MECHANICAL ENGINEERING, UNIVERSITY TECHNOLOGY OF MALAYSIA E-mail: RisandiUTMME@gmail.com

PROPELLER According to Wikipedia (2011), a propeller is a type of fan that transmits power by converting rotational motion into thrust. A pressure difference is produced between the forward and rear surfaces of the aerofoilshaped blade, and a fluid (such as air or water) is accelerated behind the blade. Propeller dynamics can be modeled by both Bernoulli's principle and Newton's third law. A propeller is often colloquially known as screw both in aviation and maritime. FIX PITCH PROPELLER Fix pitch propeller is a propeller with fixed blade angles is a fixed-pitch propeller. The pitch of this propeller is set by the manufacturer and cannot be changed. There are several characteristic of fix pitch propeller, such as (Molland, 2008). Ease of manufacture Design for a single condition Blade root dictates boss length No restriction on blade area or shape Rotational speed varies with power absorbed Relatively small hub size According to Carlton (2007). The fixed pitch propeller has traditionally formed the basis of propeller production over the years in either its mono-block or built-up forms. Whilst the mono-block propeller is commonly used today the built-up propeller, whose blades are cast separately from the boss and then bolted to it after machining, is now rarely used. This was not always the case since in the early years of this century built-up propellers were very common, partly due to the inability to achieve good quality large castings at that time and partly to difficulties in defining the correct blade pitch. In both these respects the built-up propeller has obvious advantages. Nevertheless, built-up propellers generally have a larger boss radius than its fixed pitch counterpart and this can cause difficulty with cavitation problems in the blade root section regions in some cases.

Mono-block propellers cover a broad spectrum of design types and sizes, ranging from those weighing only a few kilograms for use on small power-boats to those, for example, destined for large container ships which can weigh around 130 tonnes and require the simultaneous casting of significantly more metal in order to produce the casting. Figure 1 shows a collage of various types of fixed pitch propeller in use today. These types range from a large four-bladed propeller fitted to a bulk carrier and is seen in the figure in contrast to a man standing on the dock bottom, through highly skewed propellers for merchant and naval applications, to small high-speed patrol craft and surface piercing propellers (Carlton, 2007). As might be expected, the materials of manufacture vary considerably over such a wide range of designs and sizes. For the larger propellers, over 300 mm in diameter, the non-ferrous materials pre-dominate: high-tensile brass together with the man-ganese and nickelaluminium bronzes are the most favoured types of materials. Cast iron, once a favourite material for the production of spare propellers, has now virtually disappeared from use. Alternatively, for small propellers, use is frequently made of materials such as the polymers, aluminium, nylon and more recently carbon fibre composites. Based on Molland (2008) The early propeller design philosophies centred on the optimization of the efficiency from the propeller. Whilst today this aspect is no less important, and, in some respects associated with energy conservation, has assumed a greater importance, other constraints on design have emerged. These are in response to calls for the reduction of vibration excitation and radiated noise from the propeller. This latter aspect has of course been a prime concern of naval ship and torpedo propeller designers for many years; however, pressure to introduce these constraints, albeit in a generally less stringent form, into merchant ship design practice has grown in recent years. This has been brought about by the increases in power transmitted per shaft; the use

of after deckhouses; the maximization of the cargo carrying capacity, which imposes constraints on the

hull lines; ship structural failure and international legislation.

(b) (a) (c)

(d)

(e)

Figure 1. Typical fixed pitch propellers: (a) large four-bladed propeller for a bulk carrier; (b) high-speed patrol craft propeller; (c) seven-bladed balanced high-screw design; (d) surface piercing propeller and (e) biased high-skew, low-blade-area ratio propeller

For fixed pitch propellers the choice of blade number, notwithstanding considerations of blade-toblade clearances at the blade root to boss interface, is largely an independent variable and is normally chosen to give a mismatch to the range of hull, superstructure and machinery vibration frequencies which are considered likely to cause concern. Additionally, blade number is also a useful parameter in controlling unwelcome cavitation characteristics. Blade numbers generally range from two to seven, although in some naval applications, where

considerations of radiated noise become important, blade numbers greater than these have been researched and used to solve a variety of propulsion problems. For merchant vessels, however, four, five and six blades are generally favoured, although many tugs and fishing vessels frequently use three-blade designs. In the case of small work or pleasure powerboats two-and three-bladed propellers tend to predominate (Molland, 2008).

For the majority of vessels of over 100 tonnes displacement it is possible to design propellers on whose blades it is possible to control, although not eliminate, the effects of cavitation in terms of its erosive effect on the material, its ability to impair hydrodynamic performance and it being the source of vibration excitation. In this latter context it must be remembered that there are very few propellers which are free from cavitation since the greater majority experience cavitation at some position in the propeller disc: submarine propellers when operating at depth, the propellers of towed array frigates and research vessels when operating under part load conditions are notable exceptions, since these propellers are normally designed to be subcavitating to meet stringent noise emission requirements to minimize either detection or interference with their own instruments. Additionally, in the case of propellers operating at significant water depths such as in the case of a submarine, due account must be

taken of the additional hydrostatic pressure-induced thrust which will have to be reacted by the ships thrust block. For some small, high-speed vessels where both the propeller advance and rotational speeds are high and the immersion low, a point is reached where it is not possible to control the effects of cavitation acceptably within the other constraints of the propeller design. To overcome this problem, all or some of the blade sections are permitted to fully cavitate, so that the cavity developed on the back of the blade extends beyond the trailing edge and collapses into the wake of the blades in the slipstream. Such propellers are termed supercavitating propellers and frequently find application on high-speed naval and pleasure craft. Figure 2 (c) illustrates schematically this design philosophy in contrast to non cavitating and partially cavitating propeller sections, shown in Figure 2 (a) and (b), respectively.

Figure 2. Propeller operating regimes: (a) non-cavitating; (b) partially cavitating and (c) supercavitating

When design conditions dictate a specific hydrodynamic loading together with a very susceptible cavitation environment, typified by a low cavitation number, there comes a point when even the supercavitating propeller will not perform satisfactorily: for example, if the propeller tip immersion becomes so small that the propeller tends to draw air from the surface, termed ventilation, along some convenient path such as along the hull surface or down a shaft bracket. Eventually, if the immersion is reduced sufficiently by either the design or operational constraints the propeller tips will break surface. Although this condition is well known on

cargo vessels when operating in ballast conditions and may, in these cases, lead to certain disadvantages from the point of view of material fatigue and induced vibration, the surface breaking concept can be an effective means of propelling relatively small high-speed craft. Such propellers are termed surface piercing propellers and their design immersion, measured from the free surface to the shaft centre line, can be reduced to zero; that is, the propeller operates half in and half out of the water. In these partially immersed conditions the propeller blades are commonly designed to operate such that the pressure face of the blade remains fully wetted

and the suction side is fully ventilated or dry. This is an analogous operating regime to the supercavitating propeller, but in this case the blade surface suction pressure is at atmospheric conditions and not the vapour pressure of water. PROPELLER FEATURES

The diameter of a propeller is the diameter of a circle which passes tangentially through the tips of the blades. At their inner ends the blades are attached to a boss, the diameter of which is kept as small as possible consistent with strength. Blades and boss are often on e casting for fixed pitch propellers. The boss diameter is usually expressed as a fraction of the propeller diameter (Tupper, 2004).

Figure 3 (a) View along shaft axis; (b) Side elevation

Based on Tupper, (2004). The blade outline can be defined by its projection on to a plane nor-mal to the shaft. This is the projected outline. The developed outline is the outline obtained if the circumferential chord of the blade, that is the circumferential distance across the blade at a given radius, is set out against radius. The shape is often symmetrical about a radial line called the median. In some propellers the median is curved back relative to the rotation of the blade. Such a propeller is said to have skew back. Skew is expressed in terms of the circumferential displacement of the blade tip. Skew back can be advantageous where the propeller is operating in a flow with marked circumferential variation. In some propellers the face in profile is no t normal to the axis and the propeller is said to be raked. It may be raked forward or back, but generally the latter to improve the clearance between the blade tip and the hull.

Rake is usually expressed as a percentage of the propeller diameter. BLADE SECTIONS A section is a cut through the blade at a given radius, that is it is the intersection between the blade and a circular cylinder. The section can be laid out flat. Early propellers had a flat face and a back in the form of a circular arc. Such a section was completely defined by the blade width and maximum thickness. Modern fixed pitch propellers use aerofoil sections. The median or camber line is the line through the mid-thickness of the blade. The camber is the maximum distance between the camber line and the chord which is the line joining the forward and trailing edges. The camber and the maximum

Figure 4 (a) Flat face, circular back; (b) Aerofoil; (c) Cambered face

thickness are usually expressed as percentages of the chord length. The maximum thickness is usually forward of the mid-chord point. In a flat face circular back section the camber ratio is half the thickness ratio. For a symmetrical section the camber line ratio would be zero. For an aerofoil section the section must be defined by the ordinates of the face an d back as measured from the chord line (Tupper, 2004). The maximum thickness of blade sections decreases towards the tips of the blade. The thickness is dictated by strength calculations and does not necessarily vary in a simple way with radius. In simple, small, propellers thickness may reduce Blade area is defined as a ratio of the total area of the propeller disc. The usual form is:

linearly with radius. This distribution gives a value of thickness that would apply at the propeller axis were it not for the boss. The ratio of this thickness, to, to the propeller diameter is termed the blade thickness

fraction.
PITCH RATIO The ratio of the pitch to diameter is called the pitch ratio. When pitch varies with radius that variation must be defined. For simplicity a nominal pitch is quoted being that at a certain radius. A radius of 70 per cent of the maximum is often used for this purpose. BLADE AREA

In some earlier work, the developed blade area was increased to allow for a nominal area within the boss. The allowance varied with different authorities and HANDING OF PROPELLERS If, when viewed from aft, a propeller turns clockwise to produce ahead thrust it is said to be right handed . If it turns anti-clockwise for ahead thrust it is said to be left handed . In twin screw ships the starboard propeller is usually right handed and the port propeller left handed . In that case the propellers are said to be outward turning. Should the reverse apply they are said to be inward turning. With normal ship forms inward turning propellers sometimes introduce manoeuvering problems which can be solved by

care is necessary in using such data. Sometimes the projected blade area is used, leading to a projected blade area ratio fitting outward turning screws. Tunnel stern designs can benefit from inward turning screws. FORCES ON A BLADE SECTION From dimensional analysis it can be shown that the force experienced by an aerofoil can be expressed in terms of its area (A), chord, (c), and its velocity (V), as: ( )

Another factor affecting the force is the attitude of the aerofoil to the velocity of flow past it. This is the angle of incidence or angle of attack. Denoting this angle by a, the expression for the force becomes:

Initially the curve for the lift coefficient is practically a straight line starting from a small negative angle of incidence called the no lift angle. As the angle of incidence increases further the curve reduces in slope and then the coefficient begins to decrease. A steep drop occurs when the angle of incidence reaches the stall angle and the flow around the aerofoil breaks

This resultant force F, Figure 5, can be resolved into two components. That normal to the direction of flow is termed the lift, L, and the

down. The drag coefficient has a minimum value near the zero angle of incidence, rises slowly at first an d then more steeply as the angle of incidence increases (Tupper, 2004).. LIFT GENERATION According to Tupper (2004), Hydrodynamic theory shows the flow round an infinitely long circular cylinder in a non-viscous fluid as in Figure 7.

Figure 5 Forces on blade section

Other in the direction of the flow is termed the drag, D, These two forces are expressed non-dimensionally as:

Each of these coefficients will be a function of the angle of incidence and Reynolds' number. For a given Reynolds' number they depend on the angle of incidence only and a typical plot of lift and drag coefficients against angle of incidence is presented in Figure 6.

Figure 7 Flow round circular cylinder

At points A and B the velocity is zero and these are called stagnation points. The resultant force on the cylinder is zero. This flow can be transformed into the flow around an aerofoil as in Figure 8, the stagnation points moving to A' and B'. The force on the aerofoil in these conditions is also zero.

Figure 8 Flow round aerofoil without circulation

In a viscous fluid the very high velocities at the trailing edge produce an unstable situation du e to
Figure 6 Lift and drag curve

shear stresses. The potential flow pattern breaks down and a stable pattern develops with one of the stagnation points at the trailing edge. Figure 9

distributions contribute to the total lift, the reduced pressure over the back making the greater contribution as shown in Figure 10.

Figure 9 Flow round aerofoil with circulation

The new pattern is the original pattern with a vortex superimposed upon it. The vortex is centered on the aerofoil and the strength of its circulation depends upon the shape of the section and its angle of incidence. Its strength is such as to move B' to the trailing edge. It can be shown that the lift on the aerofoil, for a given strength of circulation, r, is:
Figure 10 Pressure distribution on aerofoil

The maximum reduction in pressure occurs at a point between the mid-chord and the leading edge. If the reduction is too great in relation to the ambient

The fluid viscosity introduces a small drag force but has little influence on the lift generated. THREE-DIMENSIONAL FLOW The simple approach assumes an aerofoil of infinite span in which the flow would be two-dimensional. The lift force is generated by the difference in pressures on the face and back of the foil. In practice an aero-foil will be finite in span and there will be a tendency for the pressures on the face and back to try to equalize at the tips by a flow around the ends of the span reducing the lift in these areas. Some lifting surfaces have plates fitted at the ends to prevent this 'bleeding' of the pressure. The effect is relatively greater the less the span in relation to the chord. This ratio of span to chord is termed the aspect ratio. As aspect ratio increases the lift characteristics approach more closely those of twodimensional flow (Tupper, 2004). PRESSURE DISTRIBUTION AROUND AN AEROFOIL The effect of the flow past, and circulation round , the aerofoil is to increase the velocity over the back and reduce it over the face. By Bernouilli's principle there will be corresponding decreases in pres-sure over the back an d increases over the face. Both pressure

pressure in a fluid like water, bubbles form filled with air and water vapour. Th e bubbles are swept towards the trailing edge an d they collapse as they enter an area of higher pressure. This is known as cavitation and is bad from the point of view of noise an d efficiency Th e large forces generated when the bubbles collapse can cause physical damage to the propeller. REFERENCES Carlton, Jhon S. 2007. Marine Propellers and Propulsion. Elseviers Science and Technology Right Department, Oxford United Kingdom Molland, Anthony F. 2008. The Maritime Engineering

Reference Book : A Guide to Ship Design, Construction and Operation. Elseviers

Science and Technology Right Department, Oxford - United Kingdom Tupper, E. C. 2004. Intoduction to Naval Architecture : Fourth Edition. Elseviers Science and Technology Right Department, Oxford United Kingdom Wikiperdia. 2011. Propeller. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (date 23.12.2011) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propeller.