Presently, the majority of podded propulsion systems are of the pulling type, because this type provides better hydrodynamic efficiency than the pushing type. There are several possible explanations for the better overall performance of a puller-type podded propulsor. One is related to the difference in hub taper angle. Puller and pusher propellers have opposite hub taper angles, hence different hub and blade root shape. These differences cause changes in the flow condition and possibly influence the overall performance. The current study focuses on the variation in performance of pusher and puller propellers with the same design of blade sections, but different hub taper angles. A hyperboloidal low-order source-doublet steady/unsteady time domain panel method code, PROPELLA, was modified and used to evaluate effects of hub taper angle on the open water propulsive performance of some fixed-pitch screw propellers used in podded propulsion systems. Major findings include good agreement between predictions using the modified code and measurements, significant effects of hub taper angle on propulsive performance of tapered hub propellers, and noticeable effects of hub taper angle on sectional pressure distributions of tapered hub propeller blades.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Research Division:	Biological Sciences
Research Group:	Ecology
Research Field:	Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology)
Objective Division:	Environmental Management
Objective Group:	Marine systems and management
Objective Field:	Oceanic processes (excl. in the Antarctic and Southern Ocean)
UTAS Author:	Bose, N (Professor Neil Bose)
ID Code:	47268
Year Published:	2006
Deposited By:	Australian Maritime College
Deposited On:	2007-09-13
Last Modified:	2010-04-22
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