Investigation of Propeller Performance KM. Dharma Kartika After The Installation of PBCF and Pre-Swirl Stator

Abstract

The energy-saving device has been used to decrease fuel consumption on ships by increasing the efficiency of ship propulsion systems. Pre-swirl Stator (PSS) is an ESD that changes the axial and tangential speed component of the propeller’s inflow which produces an additional gain of thrust by 4.7%. By using a pre-swirl stator, there is still an indication of a hub vortex developed behind the propeller. Another type of ESD is Propeller boss-cap fins which can decrease the development of hub vortex. A combination of PSS and PBCF ESD could gain another 1-1.5% of propeller efficiency rather than only using a pre-swirl stator and decrease hub-vortex. The goal of this study is to increase KM. Dharma Kartika IX propeller’s performances by using PSS and PBCF. The computational fluid dynamics method was employed with variated angles of attack are 3° and 5° for PSS fin. The numerical approach is based on the Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) equation with k-ε as the turbulence model. The results showed a combination of PSS and PBCF gives an additional 5-30% of thrust, 5-30% of torque, and 0.8-5% of efficiency.