Numerical prediction of cavitation phenomena on marine vessel: Effect of the water environment profile on the propulsion performance

Abstract

Abstract Energy-saving and emission reduction are crucial since shipping activity due to the global maritime trade has increased exponentially. Several agreements have been engaged to optimize ship energy efficiency composed of ship design and shipping operation planning. However, most up-to-date studies focused on speed and route optimization. The interaction analysis between speed and route efficiency below varied environmental conditions is limited. To attain energy and cost efficiency, a study of cavitation on the propeller that considers the ocean environmental condition will be discussed in this work. Although researchers have previously observed cavitation phenomena, the predictability of simulations is not yet such that problems can be eliminated. Since the multiphase flow of water and vapor is sensitive to environmental conditions, it leads to varying observation accuracy. Thus, the current paper proposes a new performance indicator of the ship propeller under cavitation predicted by computational fluid dynamics (CFD). CFD-based simulation to observe the propeller cavitation was used to model the Zwart cavitation and Kunz cavitation models under two turbulence models of K−ε at different flow conditions and operating environments. Initial validation tests between experimental and numerical simulation show good agreement with a mean error of 4.7% in the Zwart model and 3.7% in the Kunz model, where the k−ε turbulence model provides an almost higher relative error. It is revealed from the result that the increase in temperature causes the rise in the cavitation problem. It is revealed from the result that the increase of temperature causes the increase in cavitation problem.