Hydroelastic effects of the camber ratio on a ducted marine propeller in a wake flow

The effects of the camber ratio on the hydrodynamic and structural behaviors of a NACA-based ducted marine propeller in the wake flow behind an underwater axisymmetric body are numerically studied by computational fluid dynamics methods, in particular, the finite element method. The results are presented in terms of the efficiency, deflection, pressure coefficient, and natural frequencies. It is shown that the wake flow strongly affects the performance of the selected propulsion system. It is shown that the distributions of the camber ratio over the blades of the propeller nonlinearly changes its resistance against cavitation occurrence and deflection, and also changes its hydrodynamic performance and vibrational behavior.