Numerical Analysis of Unsteady Viscous Flow Through a Weis-Fogh-Type Ship Propulsion Mechanism Using the Advanced Vortex Method

Abstract

The velocity and pressure field of a ship’s Weis-Fogh-type propulsion mechanism are studied in this paper using an advanced vortex method. The wing (NACA0010 airfoil) and channel are approximated by source and vortex panels, and free vortices are introduced away from the body surfaces. The viscous diffusion of fluid is represented using the core-spreading model to the discrete vortices. The velocity is calculated on the basis of the generalized Biot-Savart law and the pressure field is calculated from an integral, based on the instantaneous velocity and vorticity distributions in the flow field. Two-dimensional unsteady viscous flow calculations of this propulsion mechanism are shown, and the calculated results agree qualitatively with the measured thrust and drag due to unmodeled large fluctuations in the measured data.