PARAMETRIC ANALYSIS AND SIMULATION OF A TUGBOAT PROPELLER BLADE

Abstract

The parametric analysis of a tugboat propeller blade was carried out with solidworks computer aided simulation software. The aim is to achieve vibration and noise mitigation as well as performance improvement of the propulsion system by varying the number of propeller blade to ascertain minimum allowable pressure on the propulsion system. To determine the magnitude of stiffness assumed in the dynamic part of the propulsion system, modeling the propulsion system as an elastic spring and perform vibration analysis-static and dynamic analysis on the propulsion system, and to analyze the fluid dynamics on the structure which may in turn have impact on the propulsion system. For this study, Concept design and vibration analysis were adopted with external militating factor like the mass of the tug (5000 tons), the viscosity of the water, the power of the propeller engine,2nd order vertical moment, of the propeller engine and experimental modal parameters (natural frequency, propeller blade radius, number of propeller blade, length of shaft). In consideration, the research finding shows that the pressure build-up (2.14 × 108 ) around the propeller with six blades is high compared to that of with three blades which is (1.27 × 108 ) The performance of the propulsion system improves, but the pressure on the propeller resulting to increased pressure build-up on the blade may result in possible failing. Thus for a tugboat of mass 5000 tons the research finding shows that an RPM of 49.7785rad/sec for the propeller blade is feasible. The research however recommends that in operation, if the propeller RPM is higher than the number of propeller blade, it ensures that the torque required to spin the propeller is reduced. The length and diameter obtained be considered in other to increase the stiffness.