An Efficient Procedure for Viscous Propeller Flow Field Calculations

An efficient procedure has been developed for the computation of the three-dimensional, compressible, viscous flow field around a general propeller geometry with the inflow at zero angles of incidence and yaw. The solution procedure combines a recently developed Reynolds-Averaged-Navier-Stokes equations solver with a commercially available grid generator designed specifically for turbomachinery configurations. Preliminary results from the calculation of laminar and turbulent incompressible flow over a flat plate demonstrate that the flow solver is capable of capturing boundary-layer behaviour accurately. Results from the prediction of the transonic flow over a two-bladed propeller geometry show that the procedure is accurate and efficient for general propeller flow field calculations