Development of KD-Propeller Series Using a New Blade Section

A new propeller series is developed using the newly developed blade section (KH 18 section) which has better cavitation characteristics and higher lift-drag ratio at wade angle-of-attack range than a conventional section. The radial patch distribution of the new series propellers is variable stance they were designed adaptively to a typical wake distribution. Basic geometric particulars of the series propellers. such as chord length, thickness, skew and rake distributions, are determined on the basis of recent full scale propeller geometric data. The series is developed for propellers having 4 blades, and blade area ratios of 0.3, 0.45, 0.6 and 0.75. Mean pitch ratios are varied as 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.95 and 1.1 for each blade area ratio. The new propeller series consists of 20 propellers and is named as the KD(KRISO-DAEWOO)-propeller series. Propeller open-water tests are performed at the towing tank, and cavitation observation tests and fluctuating pressure tests are carried out at the cavitation tunnel of KRISO. $B_{p}-\delta$ curves, which can be used to select the optimum propeller diameter at the preliminary design stage, are derived from a regression analysis of the propeller open-water test results. The KD-cavitation chart is derived from the cavitation observation test results by choosing the local maximum lift coefficient and the local cavitation number as parameters. The cavity extent predicted by the KD-cavitation chart would be more accurate compared to that by an existing cavitation charts, such as the Burrll's cavitation chart, since the former is derived from the cavitation observation test results in a typical ship's wake, while the lather is derived from the test results in a uniform flow.