Numerical Investigation of the Hydrodynamic Performance of the Duisburg Test Case Propeller Using RANS-Based CFD Simulations

Abstract

This study presents a numerical investigation of the hydrodynamic performance of the Duisburg Test Case (DTC) propeller using a Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS)-based Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) approach. The propeller geometry was reconstructed and discretized using a structured computational mesh, and the simulations were performed using the ANSYS CFX solver with the k−ω SST turbulence model and the Multiple Reference Frame (MRF) approach. The open-water performance was evaluated over a range of advance coefficients from J = 0.1 to 1.0, and the predicted thrust coefficient, torque coefficient, and open-water efficiency were compared with available experimental data. The numerical results reproduced the main trends of the experimental propeller characteristics, although noticeable differences were observed at several operating conditions. The mean absolute deviations were approximately 15.9% for K_T, 13.5% for 10K_Q, and 12.7% for η₀. In addition, pressure distributions on the blade surfaces, pressure coefficient distributions at r/R=0.7, and the downstream wake structure were analyzed to characterize the propeller flow field. The results provide an assessment of the capability of the adopted RANS-based CFD approach to reproduce the principal hydrodynamic characteristics of the DTC propeller.