background
When making propeller designs for tunnel thrusters nowadays, noise and vibrations issues have to be considered. This leads to a need for knowledge about how contemporary, optimised propellers would behave in a tunnel configuration. Moreover, propellers driven from the rim of a tunnel instead of by a Z-drive gear inside a housing are being introduced into the market, for which similar knowledge is needed.
The side force on a ship, generated by a tunnel thruster, is often determined using factors obtained from experience for a certain type of ship. Such factors may have limited value for modern ships and for configurations with multiple tunnel thrusters and possibly anti-suction tunnels. Therefore, this is an area that needs further exploration in order to achieve a better accuracy of side force predictions. This is also the case for the effect of ship speed (ahead and astern) and drift angle.
objectives
Development of a method to select and design as well as to predict the performance of tunnel thruster propellers (Z-drive or rim driven), considering:
- Tunnel shape, dimensions, position;
- Required side force;
- Noise and vibration aspects.
The software would be similar to what has been developed for the Wageningen CD-series JIP.
Develop design guidelines on the effects of ship hull form and ship speed on the effective side force.
Develop design guidelines on the effects of tunnels on the ship resistance, considering drift angles and waves.
Find out more and get involvedThe Wageningen TT-series JIP would already in this stage welcome any indication of interest from organisations. In view of the issues that are addressed the JIP is expected to be interesting for equipment designers and manufacturers, ship designers and ship yards, ship owners and operators, classification societies and possibly others, like e.g. universities.