Computational Evaluation of the Limiting Thrust of the Peripheral Thruster Taking into Account the Propeller Blade Yield Stress and the Thrust Breakdown Due to Cavitation

The work presented in this article is related to the performance of an alternative design for the side thruster for ships, referred to as a peripheral thruster. Unlike the standard side thruster design, which uses the tunnel across the hull structure, the peripheral thruster consists of two separate devices mounted on two sides of the hull, with retracTable ducted propellers. The computational analyses presented here focus on evaluation of the maximum thrust achievable by this alternative design for the side thruster for a specified propeller diameter of 250 mm. Two limiting factors were considered: the strength of the propeller material, and the drop in thrust due to excessive cavitation. The analyses were carried out using STAR-CCM+ solver, and involved both a flow model (RANS FVM) and a solid stress model (FEM). The article focuses on the sensitivity of the results to the settings of the computational models, which is a key issue for this type of analysis due to its complexity.