Investigation of propeller wake in a cavitation tunnel using PIV measurement techniques

Abstract

The main objective of present study is to investigate the flow characteristics of complex flow around a marine propeller using a two-frame PIV (Particle Image Velocimetry) and SPIV (stereoscopics PIV) techniques. The rotating propeller of 4 blades was tested in a cavitaion tunnel without any wake screen. Hundreds of instantaneous velocity fields were measured at nine phases of the propeller blade and phase-averaged to investigate the spatial evolution of the flow around the propeller. The nearly constant circulation continues up to one diameter downstream region at light and design loading conditions. Strong out-of-plane motion appears at wake sheets as and viscous wake in Z-direction took place. To find out the effectiveness of it in the cavitation tunnel, the results of SPIV measurements have been compared with those of 2-D PIV measurements in this study. Copyright ？ 2006 by The International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers.