Experimental Analysis of the Near Wake from a Ducted Thruster at True and Near Bollard Pull Conditions Using Stereo Particle Image Velocimetry (SPIV)

2005 ◽  
Vol 127 (3) ◽  
pp. 191-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. El Lababidy ◽  
N. Bose ◽  
P. Liu ◽  
D. Walker ◽  
F. Di Felice

Thrusters working at low advance coefficients are employed in a wide range of offshore and marine applications on Floating, Production, Storage, and Offloading (FPSO) systems; shuttle tankers; tug boats; and mobile offshore units. Therefore, an understanding of the flow around the thrusters is of great practical interest. Despite this interest, there is lack of knowledge in the description of the hydrodynamic characteristics of a ducted thruster’s wake at bollard pull and low advance coefficient values. This work was aimed at providing detailed data about the hydrodynamic characteristics of a Dynamic Positioning (DP) thruster near wake flow at different low advance coefficient values. Wake measurements were made during cavitation tunnel tests carried out on a ducted propeller model at the Italian Ship Model Basin (INSEAN), Rome, Italy. Through these experiments, the DP thruster near wake velocity components at different downstream axial planes, up to 1.5 diameters downstream, were obtained using a Stereoscopic Particle Image Velocimetry (SPIV) system. These experiments were carried out at different advance coefficient (J) values [bollard pull (J=0), J=0.4 and J=0.45].

Author(s):  
Marek Czapp ◽  
Matthias Utschick ◽  
Johannes Rutzmoser ◽  
Thomas Sattelmayer

Investigations on gas-liquid flows in horizontal pipes are of immanent importance for Reactor Safety Research. In case of a breakage of the main cooling circuit of a Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR), the pressure losses of the gas-liquid flow significantly govern the loss of coolant rate. The flow regime is largely determined by liquid and gas superficial velocities and contains slug flow that causes high-pressure pulsations to the infrastructure of the main cooling circuit. Experimental and numerical investigations on adiabatic slug flow of a water-air system were carried out in a horizontal pipe of about 10 m length and 54 mm diameter at atmospheric pressure and room temperature. Stereoscopic high-speed Particle Image Velocimetry in combination with Laser Induced Fluorescence was successfully applied on round pipe geometry to determine instantaneous three-dimensional water velocity fields of slug flows. After grid independence studies, numerical simulations were run with the open-source CFD program OpenFOAM. The solver uses the VOF method (Volume of Fluid) with phase-fraction interface capturing approach based on interface compression. It provides mesh refinement at the interfacial area to improve resolution of the interface between the two phases. Furthermore, standard k-ε turbulence model was applied in an unsteady Reynolds averaged Navier Stokes (URANS) model to resolve self-induced slug formation. The aim of this work is to present the feasibility of both relatively novel possibilities of determining two-phase slug flows in pipes. Experimental and numerical results allow the comparison of the slug initiation and expansion process with respect to their axial velocities and cross-sectional void fractions.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document