Thrusters of various designs are used to improve manoeuverability. The variations go from impeller, z-drives and retractable types to permanently installed channel thrusters. For the design of bow thrusters, details are needed on the basic parameters of the propeller and interaction with the channel in particular. For bow thrusters with propellers, different approximation methods were derived. At SVA, the method of Bladt and Wagner [3] is used for the design of thrusters. Investigations with thrusters can similarly be carried out as ducted propellers up to a certain size (relation of propeller diameter to length of the tunnel). The following figure shows a schematic diagram of the experimental setup.
For cavitation tests with propellers for thrusters, the cross-channel system 25A26 was developed [2].
The propeller is driven with the J25 dynamometer. The channel inner diameter is 209 mm. At the end of the channel a nozzle-like constriction is arranged. This nozzle causes a throttling effect that achieves high thrust loads of the propeller in the experiments without a working impeller. Smaller loads can be realised by increasing the velocity in the pipe by a working impeller. The velocity in the channel is determined by pressure measurements. The velocity measuring device is calibrated by the measurement of the velocity distribution in the jet of the outlet of the nozzle. Therefor the LDV-measuring device is used in the cavitation tunnel. The calibration is performed with and without propellers. The static pressure which is required for calculating the cavitation number is measured in the entrance of the channel. The entrance of the cross channel can be equipped with a vertical or inclined plate relative to the channel axis.
Context Related References / Research Projects
[1] Vollheim, R.: Modellversuche zur Entwicklung eines Bugstrahlruders Schiffbauforschung 18 1/2/1979
[2] Schröder, G.: Eine Einrichtung für Modellversuche an Propellern für Querstrahlruder Schiffbauforschung 23 3, 1984
[3] Bladt, K.-J.: Beitrag zur Auslegung von Querschubanlagen mit Propeller für Schiffe, www.jbladt.drupalgardens.com, 2013