Near Wake Development Behind Marine Propeller Model in Presence of Freestream Turbulence

Abstract

Three-dimensional particle image velocimetry (PIV) experiments were conducted in the immediate near wake and up to seven diameters downstream of a three-bladed marine propeller model operating in two different inflow conditions: one with imposed freestream turbulence with intensity of 7% and streamwise integral length scale comparable to propeller geometry, and the second experiment with a quiescent inflow conditions as a reference. The resulting Reynolds number based on propeller chord and relative velocity is Re0.7R = 4.7 × 105. All components of radial transport of mean flow kinetic energy are analyzed and the largest contributor to the fluxes is found to be correlated to Reynolds shear stresses, resulting in radially outward flux in the wake. Two regions of the near wake are distinguishable with downstream extent dependent on the level of external turbulence. In the first region, immediately behind the propeller, shed tip vortices are very coherent and undergo grouping and roll-up around each other and the second region where the vortex merger process is complete and characterized by breakdown of vortices into small-scale turbulence. The latter region was found to occur earlier in the experiment with external turbulence. Conditional statistics of velocity fluctuations were employed and they show that outward interactions and sweep events contribute the most to the transfer of mean flow kinetic energy from the inner wake to the freestream.