Numerical simulation of propeller exciting force induced by milling-shape ice

On the basis of the Computational Fluid Dynamics technique (CFD) combined with the overlap grid method, this paper establishes a numerical simulation method to study the problem of ice-propeller interaction in viscous flow and carries out a simulation forecast of the hydrodynamic performance of an ice-class propeller and flow characteristics when in the proximity of milling-shape ice (i.e., an ice block with a groove cut by a high-speed revolving propeller). We use a trimmed mesh in the entire calculation domain and use the overlap grid method to transfer information between the domains of propeller rotation calculation and ice-surface computing. The grid is refined in the narrow gap between the ice and propeller to ensure the accuracy of the flow field. Comparison with the results of the experiment reveals that the error of the hydrodynamic performance is within 5%. This confirms the feasibility of the calculation method. In this paper, we calculate the exciting force of the propeller, analyze the time domain of the exciting force, and obtain the curve of the frequency domain using a Fourier transform of the time-domain curve of the exciting force. The existence of milling-shape ice before the propeller can greatly disturb the wake flow field. Unlike in open water, the propeller bearing capacity shows a downward trend in three stages, and fluctuating pressure is more disordered near the ice.