Design and Analysis of Contra-Rotating Propeller Blade

Click to edit Master subtitle style

4/23/12

Abstract
Contra rotating propellers are the two propellers rotating in opposite directions with respect to each other. This type of propulsive system has the hydrodynamic advantage of recovering the slip stream energy, thus maximizing the thrust power and the propulsive efficiency. The main aim is to analyze the contrarotating propeller blade. This involves modeling of blade in CATIA, Meshing in HYPERMESH, Static analysis in ANSYS. Theoretically by applying Bernoullis principle and Newtons second law on the 4/23/12 flow of water through the blade, its

Contra-rotating propeller
The Contra rotating propeller (CRP) is a type of propulsion system which consists of two propellers on the same line of shaft, spaced a short axial distance apart and rotating in opposite directions. contra rotating propellers can be classified broadly by virtue of its location for installation in a marine vehicle into two of its kinds Single end CRP Both propellers placed at single end of marine vehicle. Dual end CRP-propellers placed at both 4/23/12 exterme ends of the vehicle.

Focus on Single end CRP

Single end CRP is considered where the rotational slip stream energy of front propeller is utilized by the aft propeller thus increasing thrust force.

4/23/12

Design Characteristics of CRP

Rotational speed- The aft propeller is directly installed on main engine shaft, its RPM and optimum diameter are determined. The front propeller RPM is reduced and its rotating direction is reversed by the gearing system. Distance between propellers To effectively utilize the slip stream energy, the propellers are placed at closest distance. Propeller diameter-The diameter of aft propeller is reduced by a few mm since the slip stream get contracted leaving the front propeller.

4/23/12

Propeller material
The material that is considered for the analysis is forged alluminium AL-24345. It is high corrosive resistant, light in weight and easy to maintain.

Property
Density (gm/cm3) Youngs modulus (N/mm2) Poissons Ratio

Value
2710 7.00*104 0.33

4/23/12

Modeling of CRP blade

Before modeling the blade, the data is considered for modeling.

Sections r/R 82.0 83.1 92.4 101.6 110.8 120.1 129.3 138.5 147.8 157.0 166.2 170.8 175.5 180.1 184.7 LLE (m) 0.4439 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65 0.7 0.75 0.8 0.85 0.9 0.925 0.95 0.975 1 LTE (m) 0.0537 0.0541 0.0571 0.0589 0.0593 0.0579 0.0551 0.0513 0.0463 0.0396 0.0313 0.0267 0.02 0.0104 -0.0019 Pitch angle (Deg) -0.0392 -0.0393 -0.0408 -0.0427 -0.0452 -0.049 -0.0522 -0.0544 -0.0562 -0.0568 -0.0562 -0.054 -0.0496 -0.0386 -0.0256 46.5 46.8 47.9 48.1 47.6 46.5 45.1 43.4 41.3 39.2 36.5 35 33.2 31.5 29.2

4/23/12

Procedure of modeling
Open CATIA icon. Start shape-Generative shape design. Open macro file (Excel file) options-enable this content and then go to view optionMacros-Click. Select a plane and offset plane to blade radius Plane type : offset from plane Reference plane : XY plane Offset distance : blade radius

4/23/12

Select that offset plane and then go to sketcher Project all points by using project 3D element Select spline and join all the projected points Join the corner with the line after that draw the tri tangent circle for radius of the trailing edge Trim the circle and spline to get a shape

4/23/12

Draw a line beside the blade section and give constraint of distance between Leading edge and generator line. Select all the splines, curves and click on translate and drag the selected lines to the point of intersection taking origin as base. Select the translated section and rotated it with respect to origin (click rotate and click on origin and give pitch angle)

4/23/12

Select circle center-support (ZX plane)-radius (take circle center as (0,0and 0)) Click on extrude-profile: circle. Direction: Y- axis and then click ok.

4/23/12

Click on develop-Wire to develop: profile Hide all except develop Then disassemble the developed profile in to 4 curves Repeat the process for all the sections Select spline and join all the sections. Select all the lower sections and guide curves after clicking multi section. And repeat it for upper sections and corners

4/23/12

After that double click on any plane or surface and go to GSD then the four multi sections should be extrapolated. After that all extrapolated surfaces are to be joined by using join command. Once they joined the unnecessary part is eliminating by using split command. After the splitting the split surface is filled by using fill option. Once they are joined, by using close surface command, the blade is to be made solid

4/23/12

Importing of Blade to Mesh

Blade is imported to HYPERMESH Environment Select the import sub panel on the files panel. Select the Geom option. Select the appropriate file format to be imported from the pop-up menu.

4/23/12

Meshing
Select the solid map panel on the 3-D page. Select the volume tetra sub-panel. With the surf selector active, select one of the surfaces in the model. The rest of the connected surfaces are selected automatically. Set 2D: to trias and 3D: to tetras and specify element size. Click mesh to create the hexa mesh.

4/23/12

Theoretical calculations
The propeller blade is assumed as radial vane and the water is assumed to flow tangentially at the inlet of blade. From Bernoullis theorem, for an incompressible fluid like water, the total energy at any point is constant P1/g + v12/2g + z1 = P2/g + v22/2g + z2 P1, v1, z1 - initial conditions of water before striking the propeller P2, v2, z2 final conditions of water after striking the propeller

4/23/12

P1/g P2/g = v22/2g Power required to accelerate the water Power (P) = w*Q*H P = w*Q*(P1/g P2/g) P = *A*v23/2 Since the blade is assumed as radial vane, its velocity triangle is as shown

4/23/12

To calculate the thrust force, the data consideration is as shown

Single Propeller Contra rotating Propeller
Front Propeller Engine Power(hp) Engine Speed(rpm) 800 Propeller diameter (m) PropellePitch (inches) 27 Angleof deflection(degrees) 120 120 120 28 20 1 1 0.74 550 800 20,000 10,000 Aft Propeller 10,000

4/23/12

The blade angle is calculated by treating the propeller as screw Tan = Pitch / 2r Considering the angle of deflection as 1200

From the velocity triangles, Thrust force Fx = av1 (vw1 vw2) Thrust power = Fx x V ( where v is the average velocity of ship i.e., 15 knots) Propulsive efficiency p = T.P / P

4/23/12

From the procedure, the obtained results for both single propeller and contra rotating propellers is as shown
Single Propeller
Thrust Force (KN) 1174.298 Thrust Force (KN) Thrust Power (KW) 8861.056 Thrust Power (KW) Propulsive Efficiency (%) 59 Propulsive Efficiency (%) 65 9544.05

Contra Rotating Propellers Front Propeller

617.87

Aft Propeller
646.944

4/23/12

Static Analysis
Static analysis is performed to determine deflection and stresses experienced by the CRP blade. From the theoretical calculations, the force acting on CRP is assumed to be uniformly distributed at all sections. Meshed blade is imported to ANSYS for analysis as shown

4/23/12

One end is fixed and loads are applied at every section from the load data shown
SECTIONS IN Z Direction SECTION LOAD (THRUST) (N) FX SECTION LOAD (TORQUE) (N) FY

82.103 83.25 92.5 101.75 111 120.25 129.5 138.75 148 157.25 166.5 171.125 175.75 180.375 185 TOTAL 16.58 16.58 16.58 16.58 16.58 16.58 16.58 16.58 16.58 16.58 16.58 16.58 16.58 0 646.42

12.33 12.33 12.33 12.33 12.33 12.33 12.33 12.33 12.33 12.33 12.33 12.33 12.33 0 480.29

4/23/12

4/23/12

The displacement vector sum and von-mises stress are as shown Maximum deflection is 0.641mm Maximum stress is 103.264N/mm2

4/23/12

Prototype

4/23/12

Advantages, Disadvantages and Applications More power can be transmitted for a

given

propeller radius. The propeller efficiency is increased by recovering energy from the tangential (rotational) flow from the leading propeller. The mechanical installation of coaxial contrarotating shafts is complicated, expensive and requires more maintenance. Suitable for Tankers, Cargo vessels, LNG carriers, Ferries, Cruise vessels and various types of Naval vessels. Suitable for wind turbine and tidal turbine for 4/23/12 ocean energy utilisation.

Conclusion

The results show the contra rotating propeller found to be as expected superior to the traditional single propeller. The propulsive efficiency of the contra rotating propeller at the design point of view is about 6% higher than the single propeller design (65% and 59% respectively). The Ansys results proves that the obtained deflections and USUM U stresses induced in X the afterUY propellerUZ are within 0.641 0. 456 0. 451 0. 031 permissible limits.
Single propeller
Thrust force (KN) Thrust Power (KW) Propulsive Efficiency (%) 59 65 8861.056 9544.07 1174.298 617.87 646.944

Contra Rotating Propellers

Front Propeller After Propeller

4/23/12