Propeller design is a key component for the performance of a ship or aircraft. Propellers convert rotary motion from an engine, turbine, or electric motor into linear thrust that pushes the vehicle forward. Their blades come in a large variety of shapes, which are typically defined by airfoil sections and how they change in radial direction. This largely determines the propeller’s properties with respect to efficiency, structural strength, or noise generation. As the geometric parameters can encompass rather large design spaces, often in combination with conflicting objectives, automated workflows are usually the only feasible approach for a thorough design investigation.
CAESES’ Propeller Design Capabilities
CAESES® is a dedicated CAD and automation environment for exploring and optimizing complex and performance-critical geometries (see also this overview on turbomachinery applications). In particular, it brings along several key capabilities for designing cutting-edge propeller geometries:
Fully parametric modeling of any type of marine and aeronautic propeller, including unconventional types such as surface-piercing, high-skew, tip-rake, toroidal, ducted, and low-noise submarine propeller designs.
Alternatively, powerful and flexible morphing capabilities for imported geometries.
High level of customization, i.e., no black box models, and full freedom to set up user-defined workflows.
High robustness and flexibility of parametric models for automated design studies and optimization.
Dedicated functionality to close propeller tips with a smooth surface, as well as for the fillet creation between hub and blade (fixed and variable-radius fillets).
Ability to import and write specialized formats, such as PFF files. Read in ASCII files with your sectional data and automatically generate a parametric propeller model including tip and hub – all with a single click, in just a few seconds. Such a model is ready for being manufactured, but also for further studies in combination with CFD and stress analysis.
Create custom parametric airfoil definitions and control them using radial parameter distribution functions, or import airfoil point data from a database, interpolate, and parameterize as needed.
Include energy-saving or noise reducing features such as propeller boss cap fins, serrations, or tip fences.
Full interfacing to external analysis, such as CFD or structural analysis. Generation of simulation domains, including potential flow panel meshes and geometry-adapted support structures for volume meshing.
Optimization and Surrogate Modeling of Tip Rake Propellers
Optimization and Surrogate Modeling of Tip Rake Propellers
Traditional propeller designs are no longer sufficient to meet energy efficiency requirements, prompting the need for unconventional designs, such as tip-rake propellers. An optimization framework for tip-rake propellers was developed to efficiently generate suitable designs from given input parameters.
Automated Generation of Parametric Propeller Models
Automated Generation of Parametric Propeller Models
In this blog post, we’ll take a quick look into an automated workflow for the fast and flexible design of propeller CAD models that are also suited for automated shape optimization with CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics).
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Optimization and Surrogate Modeling of Tip Rake Propellers
Automated Generation of Parametric Propeller Models
Propeller Design at Berg Propulsion
Drone Propeller Design at Parrot
Linear Jet Design at Voith
Design of an efoil Propeller
How to Create a Propeller Blade Tip
Propeller Design with OpenFOAM
Design of Wageningen B-Series Propellers
Blade Analysis for Propellers
Comparison of Blade Sections
Optimization of Propeller Boss Cap Fins
Drone Blade Design
Questions?
Please do not hesitate to get in touch with us if you have questions in the context of your specific application. We look forward to discussing it together with you!
