A Succinct Review on the Numerical and Experimental Performance Evaluation Techniques for Composite Marine Propellers

Understanding the behaviour of composite marine propellers during operating conditions is a need of the present era since they emerge as a potential replacement for conventional propeller materials such as metals or alloys. They offer several benefits, such as high specific strength, low corrosion, delayed cavitation, improved dynamic stability, reduced noise levels, and overall energy efficiency. In addition, composite materials undergo passive deformation, termed as “bend-twist effect”, under hydrodynamic loads due to their inherent flexibility and anisotropy. Although performance analysis methods were developed in the past for marine propellers, there is a significant lack of literature on composite propellers. This article discusses the recent advancements in experimental and numerical modelling, state-of-the-art computational technologies, and mutated mathematical models that aid in designing, analysing, and optimising composite marine propellers. In the initial sections, performance evaluation methods and challenges with the existing propeller materials are discussed. Thereafter, the benefits of composite propellers are critically reviewed. Numerical and experimental FSI coupling methods, cavitation performance, the effect of stacking sequence, and acoustic measurements are some critical areas discussed in detail. A two-way FSI-coupled simulation was conducted in a non-cavitating regime for four advanced ratios and compared with the literature results. Finally, the scope for future improvements and conclusions are mentioned.