Propeller Cavitation Modelling by CFD - Results from the VIRTUE 2008 Rome Workshop

Results from the Rome 2008 Workshop on cavitating propeller modelling are presented. Seven computational models by RANS, LES and BEM are benchmarked against a common test case addressing the INSEAN E779A propeller in uniform flow and in a wakefield. Submitted results provide a wide picture about capabilities of solvers based on different discretization techniques, turbulence and two-phase flow models. The comparative analysis of numerical results highlights a good agreement for the non-cavitating steady flow predictions, whereas for the cavitating flow, discrepancies in cavity extent are observed. In the case of a propeller operating in a non-uniform flow, difficulties to correctly model the inflow to the propeller are reflected in the differences in non-cavitating pressure distributions on the blade and hence in the transient cavity patterns.