VOL. 12, NO.

17, SEPTEMBER 2017 ISSN 1819-6608

ARPN Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences
©2006-2017 Asian Research Publishing Network (ARPN). All rights reserved.

www.arpnjournals.com

DESIGN OF MARINE PROPELLER BLADE WITH DIFFERENT

BLADE SEQUENCES ANALYSE THE HYDRO FORMATION
UNDER PRESSURE HYDRODYNAMIC FILL
K. P. Santhosh Babu and S. Padmanabhan
School of Mechanical Engineering, Sathyabama University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
E-Mail: ssandy896@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
Marine ducted propellers are rotating duct fan that are used on tugs and trawlers which creates a greater
propulsive thrust force to drive over a water medium on heavy working condition in harbour. This paper progresses with
comprehensive information of marine ducted propeller. Which blade made of aluminum alloy and duct of alloy steel is
designed and analyzed with various blade formations 4 and 5 separately and to check the performances of each blade
individually to show which blade performs efficiently better with maximum velocity rate under stream line motion on
water at dynamic condition. Ducted propeller is modeled in solid works. Hydrostatic and hydrodynamic analyses of each
blade are performed with ANSYS workbench.

Keyword: marine ducted propeller, hydrostatic analysis, hydrodynamic analysis.

1. INTRODUCTION as the normal stain less steel propeller at various fluid

Ducted propellers are rotating duct fan that
transmits rotational motion into thrust force that helps the
ships or tugs to move forward. Thus duct helps the tug to
create a greater propulsion force at a lower rotational
speed [13]. Ducts they are two types accelerating and
decelerating ducts.
Accelerating ducted propellers are propellers that
work on heavy loading condition. Thus this propeller helps
in improving the propulsion of a ship at lower speed and
reduces vibration over the tugs when at a unconditional
flow rate of water.
Decelerating ducts produces lesser propulsive
power than previous duct. This is specifically used for
noise reduction purposes and for some harbour small
loading and unloading purposes inside harbour [6].
Ducted propellers are applicable in tugboats and
trawlers in which these boats work on harbor as helper
boats which helps in towing of containers, wrecked or
damaged ships, clearing of naval traffics etc. to tow a
container ships of larger size tugs must perform with
greater propulsive power and a lower RPM speed. This
helps to create 30% of positive bollard pull [10]
When designing a propeller blade it’s always be a
challenging role. That is we have to consider few factors
which material to be chosen for blade and what type of
propeller based on the application of marine field. When
comes to designing part the propeller diameter, pitch, rake
angle, and angle of attack are the main things to be
considered initially.
Propellers are made of three materials when
choosing material we have to look for good strength,
durability, corrosion resistant and check for prices too.
Three materials are composite plastics, aluminum alloy
and steel alloy. Among three propeller material aluminum
alloy are most common type with average durability light
weight and strong enough to reduce blade flex and could
also be repaired at very reasonable price. A well designed
aluminum propeller with a duct will perform as efficiently
terrains from normal to unconditional flow of water at the
stream line velocity rate [7].
On comparison with the open propellers ducted
propeller performs more laminar flow on a open water at a
static condition, Thus the stream line flow velocity rate of
the ducted propeller will be more then that of the open
propeller, so the propulsion power increases, increase in
propulsion power will also increases the performance of
the propeller [1].
In this paper, a hydrostatic and hydrodynamic
analysis of tug boat propeller is done with various blade
formations. Tug boats performs with ducted propellers.
Thus chosen blade material of aluminum alloy has a Good
toughness and surface finish, excellent corrosion
resistance, Good corrosion resistance to sea water, Good
weldability and brazability, and for duct alloy steel is
chosen [3]. And modeling of blade and duct is done. For
tug boats and analyzed hydrostatic load separately for each
blade formation to check which blade could withstand
greater static pressure over it when water is at still position
at rest and the ducted propeller blade is performed on it [9,
12]. Then hydrodynamic loading pressure is analyzed with
the same procedure of analyzing separately for each blade
arrangements [11]. But in this case blade on rotating
forces creates a pressure and move over the dynamic water
[2, 5]. Thus here dynamic loading is created. Due to both
boat and water is in motion.
Based on comparison results of both hydrostatic
and hydrodynamic analysis. It is to be concluded that
which propeller performs efficiently at a greater
propulsive performance.
2. PROPELLER DESIGN MODEL
Ducted propeller used for tug boats are designed
in solid works. Figure-1 shows the ducted propeller being
designed with various blade arrangements by choosing
aluminum alloy for blade and alloy steel for duct.

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 VOL. 12, NO. 17, SEPTEMBER 2017 ISSN 1819-6608
ARPN Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences
©2006-2017 Asian Research Publishing Network (ARPN). All rights reserved.

www.arpnjournals.com

Figure-3. Propeller blade designed with 4-blade

BUSH
BEARING
arrangement.
DUCT SLEEVE
BLADE
INSERT 3. PROPELLER MATERIAL USED
When choosing an material of a propeller it has to
Figure-1. Ducted propeller design model. satisfy few key factors. It should be good corrosive
resistance and less cavitations, good sustainable at various
A. 5-Bladed existing propeller model terrains with less vibration during a sail.
Solid works is used to design propeller blade
model and here in Figure-2 it shows a propeller being
designed with a 5-blade arrangement with aluminum alloy
of 1060. To design a propeller pitch, diameter, rake angle
and angle of contact are main design factors to be
considered.

Figure-4. Aaluminum and alloy steel of ducted propeller.

A. Aluminum alloy 1060

Application: Marine Components, Aircraft
components etc.
Advantages: It has Good corrosion resistance,
and workability. It has low mechanical strength compared
to more significantly alloyed metals. It can be
strengthened by cold working.

Figure-2. Propeller blade designed with 5-blade B. Alloy steel

arrangement. Application: Marine and jet engines
Components, spacecraft and nuclear reactors components
etc.
B. 4-Bladed new propeller model
Figure-3 it shows a propeller being designed with Advantages: It has good strength, it has low
a 4-blade arrangement with aluminum alloy of 1060 hardness. It has higher toughness, wear resistance and
having same pitch, diameter, and angle of contact. corrosion resistance it has good harden ability, and hot
hardness.

4. PROPELLER MATERIAL PROPERTIES

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ARPN Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences
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Table-1. Chemical composition of aluminum and steel alloy.

Chemical composition of material
S. No. Alloy steel 41xx S. No. Aluminum alloy 1060
1 Steel 99.38 1 Aluminum 99.60
2 Chromium 0.55 2 Copper 0.05
3 manganese 0.12 3 Iron 0.35
4 Magnesium 0.03
5 Manganese 0.23
6 Silicon 0.02
7 Titanium 0.03
8 Vanadium 0.05
9 Zinc 0.05

A. Aluminum alloy 1060 5. HYDROSTATIC ANALYSES

Static analysis is performed to calculate pressure
Table-2. The mechanical property of aluminum alloy by applying a certain load on a physical component either
1060. through pointed or equally distributed loads. Here in this
case by keeping water medium at a rest position and
Material property 1 performing propeller over it hydrostatic load is formed
Material name Aluminum alloy 1060 thus it creates stress, strain and deformation over the
Property Value Unit propeller blade due to concentric pressure created over the
propeller. Figure-7 shows the boundary condition of tug
Elastic modulus 6.90E^10 N/m^2
boat under hydrostatic pressure.
Poisson’s ratio 0.33 NA
Shear modulus 2.70E+10 N/m^2
Mass density 2700 Kg/m^3
Tensile strength 6.89E+07 N/m^2
Yield strength 2.78E+07 N/m^2
Thermal expansion
2.40E-05 Kelvin
coefficient
Thermal conductivity 200 W/(m.k)
Specific heat 900 J/(kg.k)

B. Alloy steel 41xx

Table-3. Mechanical property of alloy steel 41xx.

Material property 2 Figure-5. Boundary layer of tug under
hydrostatic pressure.
Material name Alloy steel 41xx
Property Value Unit
Elastic modulus 2.10E+11 N/m^2
Poisson’s ratio 0.28 NA
Shear modulus 7.90E+10 N/m^2
Mass density 7700 Kg/m^3
Tensile strength 7.24E+08 N/m^2
Yield strength 6.20E+08 N/m^2
Thermal expansion
1.30E-05 Kelvin
coefficient
Thermal conductivity 50 W/(m.k)
Specific heat 460 J/(kg.k)

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 VOL. 12, NO. 17, SEPTEMBER 2017 ISSN 1819-6608
ARPN Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences
©2006-2017 Asian Research Publishing Network (ARPN). All rights reserved.

www.arpnjournals.com

Figure-6. Hydrostatic pressure on tugboat.

Figure-9. Displacement of a 5-blade arrangement
propeller on hydrostatic loading.
Figure 7-12 shows the static analysis of a ducted
propeller blade with 4 and 5 blade formations each to
B. Static analysis on 4-blade propeller
calculate stress, strain and displacement individually.

A. Static analysis on 5-blade propeller

Figure-7. Stress analysis of a 5-blade arrangement Figure-10. Stress analysis of a 4-blade arrangement
propeller on hydrostatic loading. propeller on hydrostatic loading.

Figure-8. Strain analysis of a 5-blade arrangement Figure-11. Strain analysis of a 4-blade arrangement
propeller on hydrostatic loading. propeller on hydrostatic loading.

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ARPN Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences
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A. 5-bladed propeller dynamic analysis

Figure-12. Displacement of a 4-blade arrangement

propeller on hydrostatic loading.

6. HYDRODYNAMIC ANALYSIS
Dynamic analysis is performed when both the
medium are in motion during such process a dynamic Figure-14. Dynamic analysis of 2-blade propeller.
pressure is created over the physical component
calculating the pressure is said to be hydrodynamic
pressure. Here in this case the propeller with four different
arrangements are is analyzed in CFX software individually
to check the performances of propeller. Figure-13 shows
the dynamic performance of a propeller

Figure-13. Dynamic analysis of propeller. Figure-15. 5-blade water flow condition during stream
line motion.
Table-4. Shows the boundary layer condition of
dynamic analysis. B. 4-bladed propeller dynamic analysis
S. No. Boundary parameter Value
1 Water angular velocity 35 rad/sec
2 Inlet velocity 50 m/s
3 Pressure range 0~1pascal
4 Blade angular velocity 35 rad/sec
5 Stream line points 150 points

Figures 14 and 16 shows the stream line motion

velocity rate of propeller when water medium in dynamic
condition for all four arrangements of blade formations
individually. To check the performance of the propeller

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 VOL. 12, NO. 17, SEPTEMBER 2017 ISSN 1819-6608
ARPN Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences
©2006-2017 Asian Research Publishing Network (ARPN). All rights reserved.

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140

120

Stream line velocity in m/s

100

80

60

40

20

0
4‐Blade 5‐Blade
Maximum 119.1 117

Figure-16. Dynamic analysis of 2-blade propeller. Minimum 0.03917 0.02137

Figure-18. Comparison result of stream line velocity rate

of propeller blades.

On comparison with static and dynamic loading

that occurs during the propeller perform. The loading
results are gathered for ducted propeller with both 4 and 5
blade arrangements.

Table-5. Performance of each propeller blade formation.

4-Blade 5-Blade
Displacement (mm) 1.303 1.552
Velocity rate (m/s) 119.1 117

8. CONCLUSIONS
In this project, static and dynamic analysis is
performed on ducted propeller blade with 4-blade and 5-
blade arrangements. Performance of each propeller blade
Figure-17. 4-blade water flow condition during stream is checked by applying hydrostatic and hydrodynamic
line motion. loading. During the loading condition 4-blade ducted
propeller performs at 1.303 maximum deflections (mm) at
7. RESULT AND DISCUSSIONS hydrostatic loading and 119.2 maximum stream line
From the dynamic analysis the best performed velocity rate (m/s) at hydrodynamic condition. Hence 4-
propeller with better stream line motion velocity is blade ducted propeller performs best and efficiently than
derived. that of 5-blade ducted propeller.

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ARPN Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences
©2006-2017 Asian Research Publishing Network (ARPN). All rights reserved.

www.arpnjournals.com

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