Numerical investigation on the effectiveness of water injection method for mitigating propeller cavitation

Abstract

Cavitation is a common problem for marine propellers. Introducing water to the cavitation prone area to increase the operating pressure is one of the approaches to mitigate cavitation. The principle goal of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of this method, depending on the positions of the injection source. The k-ω SST turbulence model with the curvature correction and the Zwart cavitation model have been applied on the commercial CFD Code ANSYS to investigate the issue. This combined model has been validated against experimental data and a reasonable agreement has been observed. Finally, the final model has been computed on a modified INSEAN E779a propeller. The method has been found less effective for water, as a working fluid.Cavitation is a common problem for marine propellers. Introducing water to the cavitation prone area to increase the operating pressure is one of the approaches to mitigate cavitation. The principle goal of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of this method, depending on the positions of the injection source. The k-ω SST turbulence model with the curvature correction and the Zwart cavitation model have been applied on the commercial CFD Code ANSYS to investigate the issue. This combined model has been validated against experimental data and a reasonable agreement has been observed. Finally, the final model has been computed on a modified INSEAN E779a propeller. The method has been found less effective for water, as a working fluid.