Design of Propeller Geometry Using Blade Sections Adapted to Surface Streamlines

In this paper, we suggest a design concept of defining the propeller geometry by stacking up the blade sections aligned with propeller surface streamlines. Numerical and experimental propeller open water(P.O.W.) characteristics of a newly designed propeller are presented. The surface streamlines for a propeller are obtained by using the panel method. Redefinition of the blade sections aligned with the streamlines is provided together with 8-spline modeling, by which we manufacture model propellers. We carried out the P.O.W, tests in a towing tank in order to show the effect of the present method on P.O.W. characteristics.