On the Comparative Hydrodynamic Analysis of Conventional and Innovative Closed-Loop Marine Propellers

Abstract

<title>Abstract</title> This study provides an in-depth comparative analysis of hydrodynamic performance between the Wageningen B3-45-070 and Loop marine propellers, utilizing Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations with the ANSYS Fluent solver. The Wageningen B3-45-070 propeller is used as a benchmark due to validated experimental results, showing good agreement with prior data. The Closed-loop propeller, reverse-engineered, incorporates an innovative blade design for enhanced efficiency. Open-water tests focus on thrust, torque coefficients, and open-water efficiency for both propellers, with the Loop's numerical investigation using the same CFD settings as the Wageningen B3-45-070 propeller. Two distinct scenarios are used to carry out this investigation. In the first scenario, the rotational speed (n) stays constant, but the speed of advance (Va) changes. In contrast, in the second scenario, the speed of advance (Va) stays constant but the rotational speed (n) changes; three different speeds of advance are used. The results of the present investigation showed that, regardless of the operating condition examined, the closed-closed-loop propeller consistently outperforms the Wageningen B3-45-070 propeller, with efficiency improvements ranging from 0.27–12.31%. Overall, the Closed-loop propeller consistently shows positive performance metrics across diverse operation conditions for improving marine propulsion systems.