A review of relevant impact behaviour for improved durability of marine composite propellers

Abstract

Composites are potential replacement materials for marine propellers due to their benefits including high strength-to-weight ratio, high environmental and fatigue resistance, damping, and design flexibility. Underwater composite structures are susceptible to low-velocity impacts with floating or submerged debris, underwater cables, ice, marine animals, collision with other crafts and docks as well as groundings. Being a critical structural component, a propeller's durability is essential and must provide resistance to impact damage. The impact behaviour of a marine composite propeller is highly complex, and predominant influencing factors are identified and discussed in this review paper. These include laminate curvature, laminate thickness, impact angle, inter-ply stacking sequence, constituent materials, water diffusion, fluid-structure interaction, among others. The main objective of this review is to bring together the findings of many relevant publications on the impact mechanics of composite structures and to discuss their findings from the perspective of composite marine propeller design to improve impact behaviour.

Keywords

• Composite structures
• Composite impact, low velocity impact
• Barely visible impact damage
• Thick composite laminates
• Marine composites
• Marine propellers