Analysis of Model-Scale Open-Water Test Uncertainty

Abstract Within the frame of CTO’s standard procedure, a propeller open-water test is preceded by a reference measurement, which is taken for a reference propeller model (P356). The results of these measurements are assembled to conduct an open-water test uncertainty analysis. Additional material was gathered from open-water tests that were conducted throughout several research projects on the CP469 model, which is a model of the Nawigator XXI propeller. The latter is a controllable pitch propeller; its pitch was reset before each test repetition. Known procedures for the determination of the open-water test uncertainty do not allow one to extract the manufacture impact directly, without building many models. This factor was addressed with the use of lifting surface calculations. Under certain additional assumptions, these calculations were performed for 100 generic versions of each propeller’s geometry, which were generated by random deviations from the theoretical data within the limits of allowed tolerances. The results of the conducted analyses made it possible to extract separate factors, which were connected to the test’s repeatability, measurement bias and geometry tolerance.