Experimental investigation of single blade and propeller loads by free running model test. Straight ahead sailing

The understanding and the accurate assessment of propeller loads in realistic operative scenario, both design and off-design conditions, is of paramount importance to design low emission and comfortable ships, fulfilling the requirements of structural integrity of the propulsion system, safety and continuity of operations at sea. To this purpose, a deeper characterization of the propeller functioning, in terms of averaged and fluctuating loads, can be attained by means of the quantification of the single blade loads. In this work, a novel set up that allows to monitor the loads developed by a single blade was implemented on a free running, self propelled maneuvering model with the aim to investigate in details the hydrodynamic interactions between the spatially non-homogeneous and time-variant wake of the hull and the propeller and a complete characterization of its performance. This preliminary work introduces the experimental setup and provides a preliminary overview of the results relative to straight ahead motion.