Enhancement of the ship propeller hydrodynamic performance by different energy-saving devices mounted at the upstream zone

The present paper numerically investigated the effect of different energy-saving devices (ESDs), which are mounted at the upstream zone on the ship propeller performance enhancement. Four types of ESDs are selected: the pre-swirl stator (PSS), wake equalizing duct (WED) and pre-swirl ducts, namely PSD-1 and PSD-2. The full-scale KP505 propeller is fitted behind the KRISO (Korea Research Institute of Ships and Ocean Engineering) container ship, and its design speed is 24 Kts (12.346 m/s). In order to study the propeller performance, a calculation is performed on thrust and torque coefficients, efficiency and pressure fluctuations by employing the CFD package of STAR-CCM + . Derived from the simulated results, the efficiency is obtained through the use of PSD-2, by 3% gain, and delivered power is diminished by 3.71%, using the PSD-1. Thrust is also increased by 2.91% and 9.17% through the means of WED and PSS, respectively. Moreover, velocity field, pressure distribution, thrust and torque coefficient and efficiency are presented and discussed for all ESDs types during one cycle.