Propellor Design Software Required

[s4d]

Hi all. I'm a student who is working on CFD of a marine propellor. I've searched
of guides online on how to design a propellor. It led me to PropExpert and PropCad in order to draw out a propellor in 3D. I could not find the software free online and therefore I would like to know if anyone has the link to the software.

Any alternative software to PropExpert and PropCad is also welcomed.

[b1ck0]

Please provide us more detail explanation of what you want to do exactly and what is your major of studies. Because there are two possibilities:
1. To design a propeller which is adapted to the wake field ..
2. To design a propeller from some series with fixed properties ( Ae/Ao, P/D ) and analyze it's hydrodynamic characteristics by CFD simulation

You can check this pdf for some propeller charts. But first of all explain us what is your aim

[Boat Design Net Moderator]

Originally Posted by s4d

Hi all. I'm a student who is working on CFD of a marine propellor. I've searched of guides online on how to design a propellor. It led me to PropExpert and PropCad in order to draw out a propellor in 3D. I could not find the software free online and therefore I would like to know if anyone has the link to the software.

s4d, ask your school to contact Hydrocomp and inquire about an academic lab kit for Prop Cad http://hydrocompinc.com/propcad/default.htm

(Any discussion about illegally distributing commercial software is against this forum's TOS)

[ABoatGuy]

The link is www.hydrocompinc.com and no, it is not free software. If you find a free copy it is pirated. Please respect intellectual property.

Not in anyway affiliated with HydroComp

[b1ck0]

If you only need a already designed propeller ... there are a lot of 3D models in internet ..

[s4d]

Hi guys thanks for the advice and any inconveniences caused.
Boat Design Net Moderator: Sorry about that and I just found out my school has the academic lab kit for Prop Cad.

b1ck0: I'm majoring in marine engineering and naval architecture actually. What I am looking for is actually quite similar to point number 2 that you have stated.

2. To design a propeller from some series with fixed properties ( Ae/Ao, P/D ) and analyze it's hydrodynamic characteristics by CFD simulation

The only difference is that, what I need are propellor designs for current vessels and re-create them in 3D form to do CFD simulation. Since right now I do have the software, my next stumbling block is how I'm going to get current propellor details and put them into PropCad. I tried finding their details online but the details are incomplete.

[b1ck0]

Well ... here there are files with the hull and propeller geometry for MOERI KCS Container Ship / bottom of the page /. The best option for a student to design a 3D propeller model is by using Rhino 4.0 / the student licence is relatively cheap /.

[ClausAbt]

Originally Posted by b1ck0

Well ... here there are files with the hull and propeller geometry for MOERI KCS Container Ship / bottom of the page /. The best option for a student to design a 3D propeller model is by using Rhino 4.0 / the student licence is relatively cheap /.

I hope it's ok to mention that as a student you can use our FRIENDSHIP-Framework free of charge - simply submit a copy/scan of your student ID. If you have an idea about diameter, pitch distribution etc. you can easily adopt the propeller model you will find in the examples and export as IGES, PPF or STL.

[luisa.crasto]

Hi, I am also studying propellers in CFD, so I also need a 3d CAD model of a propeller to start my simulations.
Since it's only for study purposes, any propeller would do for me, the only restriction is that the "theoretical" performance would have to be known, for example, if it's a propeller from the B series, I would have to know in advance the pitch and expanded area ratio.
Does anyone know where I can get such 3d model?

[luisa.crasto]

Originally Posted by b1ck0

If you only need a already designed propeller ... there are a lot of 3D models in internet ..

I tried to look online, maybe it's my bad english, but I couldn't find anything I could use.
Does anyone have recommendations?

[fastwave]

Anyone studying marine propeller in CFD for academic purposes should take a look at the INSEAN case. The file sare freely available. There are LDV measurements for the wake and bopundary layer for validation purposes.
In addition many institutions participate in the workshops to compare CFD codes against eaxh other.
Also another case is the DTMB but the INSEAN data is more extensive

[CmbtntDzgnr]

If anyone is interested and is not a subscriber to RINA pubs, they have issued a supplement to The Naval Architect. It is named:

"Marine Propulsion & Propulsion 2011

solutions for naval architects".


It runs 26 pages, and mentions Hydrocomp on page 20.

Page 10 talks about pre-swirl stators....

Page 12 talks about CFD & Cavitation

Page 22 talks about a Non-Hub Vortex (NHV) propeller

P 26 talks about the prop's tip clearances and has some comparisons.

[s4d]

Many thanks to those who replied to me

[CmbtntDzgnr]

By the way, don't overlook Hydronship (Free!ship 3.26+ test) at:

http://hydronship.net/index.php?lang=en

This version is updated 3.24+, and some of the changes include updates to propeller and other calculations. You can also do various types of powering estimations, too. It doesn't *draw* you a propeller, but you can use libraries of reference props to compare against the entries you type in for what you're after.

It would be SUPER awesome if Hydronship had an ability (or if Victor had time or an associate who had time and ability to code it) to draw representative props and let you flip the rotation direction etc. I wouldn't need vortice simulations, but it would be awesome to have if produce props similar to naval as well as merchant and pleasure craft props that could be exported to CAD apps for beautifying the drawings. I would not expect it to be CNC-level quality, but I imagine it would be orders of magnitude better than my horrid hand-drawn stuff. (Mainly, I'd prefer to draw my own, mimicing stuff the USN and other navies use, rather than a direct model that might be copyrighted or patented. But, if Hydronship or another free source produced user-spec'd rudders that were of a non-competing quality (so we can get them or make them free, but easily), I'd be thrilled. I have my diameters, and the series output, but I would love seeing an exportable, crude, 3D model that I could finish off in ViaCAD.)

But, if anything, you could probably use Hydronship as an additional source or comparator/comparison tool. In some calcs (IIRC), you don't even need a hull -- so long as you are not needing to estimate from the hull form.

Cheers.