Numerical Simulation of Underwater Propeller Noise

Abstract

Noise reduction and control is an important problem in the
performance of underwater acoustic systems and in the
habitability of the passenger ship for crew and passenger.
Furthermore, sound generated by a propeller is critical in
underwater detection and it is often related to the survivability of
the vessel. This paper presents a numerical study on noises of the
underwater propeller for different performance conditions. The
non-cavitating and blade sheet cavitation noise generated by an
underwater propeller is analyzed numerically in this study. The
flow field is analyzed with finite volume method (FVM), and then
the time-dependent flow field data are used as the input for
Ffowcs Williams–Hawkings (FW-H) formulation to predict the
far-field acoustics. Noise characteristics are presented according
to noise sources and conditions. The developed flow solver is
applied to the model propeller in uniform inflow. Computed
results are shown to be in good agreement with other numerical
results. The overall results suggest that the present approach is a
practicable tool for predicting cavitation and non-cavitation noise
of propellers in far field.