Cavitation Mechanism and Performance Analysis of Toroidal Propeller

The toroidal propeller is a kind of novel propeller, of which the cavitation characteristics are not yet clear. A three-dimensional numerical model is established to analyze the cavity distribution and cavitation mechanism of toroidal propeller. The toroidal propeller are simulated based on the multiple reference frames method and the Schnerr-Sauer cavitation model, and the cavitation characteristics of toroidal propeller under different rotational speeds and advance coefficients are analyzed. The calculated results of the volume fraction of gas phase under different rotational speeds and advance coefficients show that the cavitation laws of the front and rear edges of toroidal propeller are very different, and the suction surface of the transition section is the most prone to cavitation. The cavitation of the front edge pressure surface always occurs earlier than that of the rear edge pressure surface, while the cavitations of the front and rear edge suction surfaces occur almost simultaneously. The research results can support the further improvement on the noise and hydrodynamic performances of toroidal propeller.