Certification approach for composite propeller with design assessment based on new tool application
Topic(s) : Industrial applications
Co-authors :
Stephane PABOEUF (FRANCE), Maxime DEYDIER (FRANCE), Marion LARREUR (FRANCE), Thibaut ALLEAU (FRANCE), Sebastien LOUBEYRE (FRANCE)Abstract :
Today, due to the challenges of climate change and new objectives set by International Maritime Organisation (IMO), the energy efficiency of vessels is a crucial topic for shipowners and is highly dependent on the performance of propellers. Due to their flexibility, composite propellers offer certain advantages compared to metallic one: less cavitation, dampening of vibration, noise reduction, but also an improvement of hydrodynamic efficiency and therefore less fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. However, few applications exist for the moment due to a lack of studies and a lack of standards covering such propellers. Classification Societies such as ClassNK, Korean Register or Bureau Veritas already published guidance notes for propeller made in composite materials. The first two are mainly dedicated to manufacturing while Bureau Veritas covers the design assessment, the manufacturing, the testing and the in-service survey.
The European research project Copropel, launched in June 2022 with 9 partners from 5 countries, aims to improve the knowledge in designing, building and testing a full-scale propeller in composite materials. Within the project, two propellers will be designed and tested, a small-scale to study the behaviour in hydrodynamic tunnel and in a towing tank, and a full-scale propeller to evaluate the performance during sea trials. Tests will be also supported by numerical simulations with an objective of improving the existing requirements from Classification Societies.
In a first part, the paper will detail the certification scheme proposed by Bureau Veritas in the guidance note NI663 Propeller in Composite Materials. All steps, from the testing qualification, the design assessment methods to construction and in-service surveys necessary for the qualification of composite propeller will be described. Then, a new tool based on the coupling of Boundary Element Method with Finite Element Model (BEM/FEM) is presented. This tool was used for the design review of two propellers: a small-scale propeller, 250mm diameter, developed within CoPropel project and a full-scale propeller, around 1m diameter, designed from a previous project. Results obtained for both designs will be compared with a two-way hydro-structure coupling performed with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and FEM for the validation of the new tool. Advantages of this tool will be highlighted for the use in the certification process of propeller made in composite materials.
The European research project Copropel, launched in June 2022 with 9 partners from 5 countries, aims to improve the knowledge in designing, building and testing a full-scale propeller in composite materials. Within the project, two propellers will be designed and tested, a small-scale to study the behaviour in hydrodynamic tunnel and in a towing tank, and a full-scale propeller to evaluate the performance during sea trials. Tests will be also supported by numerical simulations with an objective of improving the existing requirements from Classification Societies.
In a first part, the paper will detail the certification scheme proposed by Bureau Veritas in the guidance note NI663 Propeller in Composite Materials. All steps, from the testing qualification, the design assessment methods to construction and in-service surveys necessary for the qualification of composite propeller will be described. Then, a new tool based on the coupling of Boundary Element Method with Finite Element Model (BEM/FEM) is presented. This tool was used for the design review of two propellers: a small-scale propeller, 250mm diameter, developed within CoPropel project and a full-scale propeller, around 1m diameter, designed from a previous project. Results obtained for both designs will be compared with a two-way hydro-structure coupling performed with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and FEM for the validation of the new tool. Advantages of this tool will be highlighted for the use in the certification process of propeller made in composite materials.