A numerical method for predicting the hydroelastic response of marine propellers

This paper focuses on the development of a numerical model for predicting the hydroelastic responses of marine propellers oscillating in the wake of a submarine. The added-mass and -damping matrices due to strongly coupled fluid-structure interaction were considered. Three-dimensional panel methods in time and frequency domains combined with the finite element method were employed to study the hydrodynamic performance of the propeller. The panel methods were used to evaluate the hydrodynamic forces generated by the wake, and the finite element method was applied to determine the hydroelastic response of the propeller due to the pressure fluctuation. For predicting the structural responses, a mode superposition method combined with Wilson-theta method was employed to overcome the low numerical efficiency caused by the asymmetric added mass and damping matrices. The proposed numerical model was validated by comparing with other numerical solutions. The performance of the propellers was examined by considering one-way and two-way fluid-structure interactions. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.