TRANS RINA, VOL 164, PART A3, INTL J MARITIME ENG, JUL-SEP 2022

AN OPTIMISATION PROCEDURE FOR PROPELLER SELECTION FOR DIFFERENT

SHAFT INCLINATIONS

Reference NO. IJME 809, DOI: 10.5750/ijme.v164iA3.809

M Tadros, Centre for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering (CENTEC), Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade
de Lisboa, Portugal. Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria
University, Egypt, M Ventura, Centre for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering (CENTEC), Instituto Superior
Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal and C Guedes Soares, Centre for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering
(CENTEC), Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal.

E-mail: c.guedes.soares@centec.tecnico.ulisboa.pt
Corresponding Author: C Guedes Soares

KEY DATES: Submitted: 22/11/21; Final acceptance: 20/12/22; Published: 31/01/23

SUMMARY

In this paper, a propeller optimisation model is presented to find the optimum propeller geometry and the gearbox ratio
for different propeller shaft angles while minimizing the amount of fuel consumed at a given speed and complying with
the proposed constraints’ limitations. The developed model couples several simulation software where the application
programming interface facilitates data processing to achieve the optimum design based on optimisation procedures. A
fishing vessel is selected as a case study to perform the numerical simulation. A comparison study is conducted between
the optimized propellers at different inclination angles of the propeller shaft among different propeller blades. Bar chart
and box and whisker plot are the two techniques considered to visualize the computed data. The results conclude that
the optimized propeller with a high number of blades and a small inclination angle (2 degrees) can operate at the engine
operating point as in a horizontal propeller shaft, which is considered the most efficient from the theoretical point of view.

KEYWORDS

Fishing vessel; Optimisation model; Minimum fuel consumption; Inclined propeller shaft.

NOMENCLATURE

Symbol Definition g(x) Static penalty function

1D One dimensional GA Genetic algorithm
3D Three-dimensional GBR Gearbox ratio (−)
API Application programming interface GUI Graphic user interface
B Breadth (m) IMO International Maritime Organisation
B Bore (mm) J Advance coefficient (−)
BEM Boundary element method j Number of constraints
BSFC  Brake specific fuel consumption (g/kW.h) KQ Torque coefficient (−)
c(x) Inequality constraints KT Thrust coefficient (−)
CA Correlation-allowance L Stroke (mm)
CAD Computer-aided design lb Lower bounds
ceq(x) Equality constraints LWL Length waterline (m)
CFD Computational fluid dynamics n Propeller speed (rps)
Cn, Sn, tn, un, vn Constants N Propeller speed (rpm)
CPP Controllable pitch propeller Nmax Rated speed (rpm)
D Diameter (m) NSGA-II Non-dominated sorting algorithm II
dCF Roughness contributions P/D Pitch diameter ratio (−)
DES Detached eddy simulation PB Brake power (kW)
DoE Design of experiments Pmax Rated power (kW)
EAR Expanded area ratio (−) Q Torque (N.m)
f(x) Objective function R Penalty function (−)
FC Fuel consumption (l/nm) RANS Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes
FEM Finite element method equations
FPP Fixed pitch propeller Rn Reynolds number (−)

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RSM Response surface methodology through the propeller and its effect on the propeller
T Draught (m) performance to select an appropriate propeller (Kaewkhiaw,
T Thrust (N) 2020). Therefore, Gaggero et al. (2010), Gaggero and
ub Upper bounds Villa (2018), Vlašić et al. (2018) and Kumar et al. (2021)
V Engine displacement (liter) used Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations
VA Advance speed (m/s) (RANS) to compute the propeller performance and flow
VS Service speed (knot) characteristics. The results show a good agreement with
Vs-max Maximum speed (knot) the experimental data. Also, Kim and Kinnas (2020) used
x Number of variables RANS to study the induced pressures to reduce noise
Z Number of blades (−) on-board. Paik et al. (2011) estimated cavitation levels
∆ Ship displacement (tonne) based on erosion tests for an inclined propeller shaft to
µ Coefficient of dynamic viscosity (−) evaluate marine coatings. Aktas et al. (2016) presented a
ηo Open water efficiency (%) systematic procedure using experimental tests to study the
ρ Density (kg/m3) performance of an inclined propeller and the corresponding
cavitation issues. It has been shown that the inclination of
1. INTRODUCTION the propeller shaft significantly affects propeller torque
and efficiency, as well as cavitation and noise issues. Usta
The selection of each component of the marine propulsion and Korkut (2018) applied the detached eddy simulation
system is an essential process to increase the system’s (DES) method to compute the hydrodynamic performance
efficiency (Zalacko et al., 2021), reduce the amount of fuel of a controllable pitch propeller (CPP). The calculated
consumption and comply with the stringent regulations of results show a good agreement with the experimental data.
the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) (Tadros
et al., 2020b, Elkafas et al., 2021, Elkafas and Shouman, Regarding the computational systems, different effective
2021). Besides the rapid technologies presented in the tools have been developed to estimate propeller
engine as a prime mover (Altosole et al., 2017, Tadros performance throughout the years. Based on the performed
et al., 2019, Tadros et al., 2021b, Elkafas et al., 2021), the experimental tests, van Lammeren et al. (1969) and
propeller is considered an important and influential part Oosterveld and Van Oossanen (1975) used computers to
to transmit the brake engine power and give thrust to the present the Wageningen B-series in polynomial equations
ship (Carlton, 2012). Therefore, several pieces of research, to be easily used in the preliminary stage of ship design.
either experimental or numerical, have been performed to This series was widely used in predicting the propeller
achieve the maximum propeller efficiency by finding the performance in different marine applications to fulfil the
optimal propeller geometry and at the same time ensuring objective of several studies (Vettor and Guedes Soares,
the durability of the propeller by reducing cavitation 2016, Ghaemi and Zeraatgar, 2021). This series was
problems (Arapakopoulos et al., 2019, Ekinci, 2011). then extended to cover the performance of other types
of propellers such as Wageningen C-and D-series (Dang
The horizontal propeller shaft is the most efficient from the et al., 2012).
theoretical point of view. In practice, the restricted engine
room area and the ship stability in small and medium ships Other series with different propeller profiles are presented
must pay attention to designers because it is essential not in a polynomial way, such as the Gawn AEW (Blount
to leave enough empty spaces and thus limit the cargo and Fox, 1978) as well as the ducted Kaplan propellers
spaces. Therefore, the inclination of the propeller shaft (Oosterveld, 1970). This surrogate model helps the ship
is an important parameter that is used in several designs. designers have a comprehensive overview of the required
This technique can change the forces imposed on the installed propeller as well as easily apply optimisation
marine propeller, affecting the propeller performance by procedures to find the optimal propeller with maximum
reducing thrust and efficiency and increasing vibration propeller efficiency (Radojčić, 1985, Suen and Kouh,
and cavitation issues (Seyyedi et al., 2019). Peck and 1999, Lee et al., 2010) and avoid cavitation (Gaafary et
Moore (1973) and Peck (1974) wrote earlier papers to al., 2011). Also, multi-objective optimisation is coupled
present the characteristics of a series of propellers among to the polynomial equations to verify several objectives as
a range of shaft angles to evaluate the applicability of presented in (Benini, 2003, Tan et al., 2019, Mirjalili et al.,
installing inclined propellers on-board. They measured 2015, Tadros et al., 2021a).
both horizontal and vertical side forces as well as the
hydrodynamic properties to ensure the propeller durability. Computers are becoming faster, and the processing of
The main interesting thing is that the inclined propeller data is performed automatically in a smooth way through
may generate more forward thrust than the propeller several programming languages and techniques. Therefore,
attached to a horizontal shaft. various commercial and open-source software packages
are developed to compute the propeller performance in a
Like in horizontal propeller shaft, the primary purpose detailed technique that is then exported to the manufacturer.
of the research is to study the behaviour of flow passing The developed commercial software are PSP and CSPDP

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from Marin (2020), Heliciel software from Heliciel (2019) et al., 2019), where a 1D engine simulation optimisation
and NavCad, PropCAD and PropElement software from model is developed to find the optimal parameters of a
HydroComp (2018). In addition, JBLADE developed marine diesel engine.
by Silvestre et al. (2013), and OpenProp, developed
by Epps et al. (2009), are friendly open-source codes OpenProp is another software already built-in Matlab
with a graphic user interface (GUI). The performance of environment to evaluate the propeller’s performance
each software is improved, and a new updated version in a 3D mode so that it can be easily adapted to be
is issued every year to keep up with the fast-developing coupled to any of the optimisation methods in the same
market due to the technological revolution. For instance, programming environment to find the optimal values of
the quality of meshing in computer-aided design (CAD) propeller geometry. Taheri and Mazaheri (2013) developed
model is improved as well as the way of exporting the an optimisation model to optimize the geometry and
3D CAD model of the propeller to fit several extension maximize the efficiency of two types of propellers. Tadros
files. Furthermore, facilitating this procedure assists the et al. (2018a) adapted the code of OpenProp to be coupled
users in implementing the 3D CAD model into other with an optimizer integrated into Matlab to maximize
software for further applications such as structure analysis the propeller efficiency by finding the optimum propeller
using the finite element method (FEM) (Ye et al., 2019) geometry. Bacciaglia et al. (2021) developed the same
and hydrodynamic analysis using computational fluid concept of optimisation model to find the optimal solution
dynamics (CFD) (Nouri et al., 2018, Bekhit and Lungu, of a CPP.
2019, Bekhit et al., 2020).
In general, optimizers are integrated into other commercial
The operation research technique is used to find the optimal software to facilitate optimisation procedures. Pluciński
solution for the propulsion system avoiding performing et al. (2007) coupled boundary element (BEM) and
a manual interaction between the different computer FEM method with GA to maximize twist and optimize
programs. Thus, the application programming interface the material selection of a composite marine propeller.
(API) becomes an essential way to be implemented into Gaggero et al. (2017) coupled the same software to
the software for smart and easy connections. Therefore, increase ship speed by improving propulsive efficiency.
the desired software can be coupled to third-party software Ansys (2018) has been used to design specific propellers
for further computations or programming environment to to improve the blade shape of the existing propellers
facilitate the importing and exporting of data as well as to (Wärtsilä, 2021, MAN Energy Solutions, 2020) according
provide flexibility in post processing the computed results. to the requirement of the markets.
Before developing API, the software can generate a lot of
computed data to study the relationship between the input To conclude the previous points, Figure 1 shows the
and output variables. This process is called the design three main techniques to perform the propeller numerical
of experiments (DoE) and effectively supports decisions simulation and achieve the optimum results. The three
based on response surface methodology. Vesting and techniques are compared using the three-point Likert scale
Bensow (2011) used the non-dominated sorting algorithm in terms of simulation time, time to build the initial code,
II (NSGA-II) to find the best propeller geometry based accuracy of the computed results, and data processing
on CFD-generated data at maximum propeller efficiency among the code. The indicator is mentioned in the middle
while minimizing cavitation issues. scale level and can vary more or less according to the
application. The scale level is presented based on the
After using API, the software can be easily coupled to a authors’ experience in the field to show that the operation
third-party code. For instance, NavCad software, in its research technique, either applied to DoE or directly
premium feature, can be coupled automatically to Matlab coupled with the numerical code, offers advantages over
or Python environment through API code. This procedure the manual computation in terms of the accuracy of the
allows the users to perform any kind of study according results and processing of data. Therefore, more time is
to their needs; for instance, MacPherson et al. (2016) required to prepare and build the initial code and perform
coupled NavCad, as a propulsion simulation tool, and the simulation.
CAESES (2021) as an optimisation software to find the
optimum hull form with a proper waterjet to increase ship Based on the points presented above and by following
speed. Tadros et al. (2021c) and Tadros et al. (2022a) the international regulator’s recommendations to reduce
coupled the same propulsion simulation tool and Matlab fuel consumption during design and operation, this paper
to find the optimal propeller geometry that achieves contributes to improving the fuel economy and thus
the minimum fuel consumption level at the ship’s the energy efficiency of ships by selecting an optimal
service speed. Also, Tadros et al. (2022b) considered propeller geometry at the corresponding operating point
the propeller cup to achieve the lowest level of fuel with minimum fuel consumption while considering the
consumption and cavitation than the uncapped propeller. inclination of the propeller shaft angles. As a result, the
This study follows the same concept presented in (Tadros model developed by Tadros et al. (2021c) is updated to

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Figure 1. Comparison between different simulation techniques for propeller design.

Table 1: Main characteristics of the fishing vessel.

implement the value of shaft angle and therefore find
the optimum propeller geometry of a fishing vessel and Characteristics Symbol Unit Value
its operating point with minimum fuel consumption in
Length waterline LWL m 21.98
a fast way as well as complying with the limitations of
cavitation and noise. Furthermore, a comparison study Breadth B m 5.2
using visualized techniques is performed between the Draught T m 1.6
performance of the optimized propellers with different
Displacement ∆ tonne 104.3
propeller blades among five degrees of the inclination
angle of the propeller shaft. Thus, this model helps to Service speed Vs knot 9
decide on propeller selection during the preliminary stages Maximum speed Vs-max knot 10
of ship design.
Number of ­propellers - - 1
The rest of the paper presents a general presentation of Type of propellers - - FPP
the ship and engine characteristics in section 2; section 3 Rated power Pmax kW 200
presents an overview of the propeller optimisation model
and the main equation used in the simulation. Finally, the Table 2: Main characteristics of marine diesel engine
computed results are discussed in section 4 and conclusions SDZ-280.
are presented in section 5.
Characteristics Symbol Unit Value
Engine builder - - Solé Diesel
2. MAIN SPECIFICATIONS OF THE
Bore B mm 108
FISHING VESSEL
Stroke L mm 130
In this study, a fishing vessel with 22 m is selected. This Displacement V liter 7.145
vessel is powered by one marine diesel engine with
200 kW (Solé Diesel, 2021), coupled to one fixed pitch Number of cylinders - - 6
propeller from B-series to propel the ship at 9 knots. The Rated speed Nmax rpm 2300
main characteristics of the vessel are presented in Table 1,
Rated power Pmax kW 200
while the engine characteristics are given in Table 2.

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3. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPELLER propulsion systems based on numerical equations.

OPTIMISATION MODEL The API implemented in NavCad (MacPherson et al.,
2016) allows the software to be coupled to a third-
3.1 GENERAL OVERVIEW party application, as mentioned in the literature review.
This procedure facilitates the interaction between the
The optimisation model developed in this study couples different codes to achieve more accurate results in
NavCad software (HydroComp, 2018) and Matlab as an appropriate simulation time. Figure 2 shows the
a programming platform to analyze data. NavCad is schematic diagram used in this study to optimize the
a simulation tool used to compute hydrodynamic and propeller performance.

Figure 2. Schematic diagram of the propeller optimisation model.

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3.2 PROPULSION SIMULATION SOFTWARE 3.4 SOFTWARE ARCHITECTURE

The ship speeds and the main dimensions of the selected Matlab as a programming language is the main software
fishing vessel are defined in NavCad, including ship length used in data processing and in optimisation procedures.
and breadth at the waterline, ship draught, displacement
and wetted surface. Then, according to the general It is used to prepare the input data for NavCad software
arrangement of the ship, the centre of buoyancy and and to export the computed results to be evaluated by the
flotation, the maximum section and waterplane area, the integrated optimizer through API.
immersion transom parameters, half entrance angle, and
the shape factor of bow and stern are defined. To allow a A constrained nonlinear multivariable function (Fmincon)
feasible resistance prediction, 10% is added as a design is selected as a fast and local optimizer used in several
margin to the added drag. Finally, all of this information applications and suitable for finding high accurate results
is implemented to compute the ship resistance using the like any global optimizer based on initial start (Tadros
methods presented in (Holtrop, 1984, Holtrop, 1988) and et al., 2020a). It finds the optimal solution of the variables
comply with the recommendations of ITTC (2008), which (x) within the lower (lb) and the upper (ub) bounds to
affects the calculation of wave-making and residuary minimize the objective function, f(x), and to verify both
resistance, the prediction of correlation-allowance (CA) inequality (c(x)) and equality constraints (ceq(x)), as in
and roughness contributions (dCF). equations (1)–(2). The interior-point is the optimisation
algorithm selected as recommended by Matlab (The
The power prediction is computed based on the selected MathWorks Inc., 2018).
propeller series, the number of propellers and the number of
blades in each propeller, the propeller geometry, the hub’s minimize  f(x)(1)
immersion below the waterline, and the propeller shaft’s
inclination to the waterline. The driveline configuration subjected to : c( x)  0
of the propulsion system is selected, including the rated ceq ( x)  0  (2)
power and speed of the installed engine and the gear ratio.
lb  x  ub
The efficiencies of the single-stage gearbox and a single
screw propeller shaft line are specified by 97%. Once
the parameters are defined in the software, the method of For a given ship speed, the number of blades (Z), and the
Holtrop and Mennen (1982) is chosen to compute the wake propeller shaft’s inclined angle, the optimizer finds the
fraction and thrust deduction fraction for more realistic optimal solution of the propeller geometry presented by
computation during the power prediction computation. diameter (D), pitch diameter ratio (P/D) and expanded area
Then the propeller characteristics and cavitation ratio (EAR), and gearbox ratio (GBR) by minimizing the
parameters are well calculated (Tadros et al., 2021a, Islam fuel consumption using the equation (3) as considered the
et al., 2022). study’s main objective and comply with the limitations of
the constraints such as cavitation, strength, and noise.

3.3 ENGINE LOAD DIAGRAM

BSFC  PB  1000 (3)
FCl/nm 
The computed results from NavCad are passing through fuel  VS
the data of the engine load diagram to compute the amount
of fuel consumed at the engine operating point. The data where FC is the fuel consumption in litre per nautical mile,
of the engine load diagram are computed based on a PB is the brake power, ρfuel is the fuel density, and VS is the
developed 1D engine optimisation model (Tadros et al., ship speed.
2020b), where the brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC)
is computed for each engine operating point by finding the The objective and the constraints are combined into the
optimal engine configurations to achieve the minimum fitness function of the optimisation model as in the equation
fuel consumption. (4) as one of the techniques used for a complex problem.
So, the value of the fitness function is minimized instead
The results of this model are then converted to non of the objective function, while the part of constraints will
dimensional polynomial equations using response surface reach zero once the constraints are satisfied.
methodology (RSM) to estimate the performance of
other engines with the same behaviour. This conversion Fitness Function  FCl/nm
is performed based on response surface methodology as j
 (4)
presented in (Tadros et al., 2018b, Tadros et al., 2020c) to  R  max( gi ( x), 0)
fit the installed engine in the current case study. i 1

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where g(x) is the static penalty function, j is the number of T  (9)

KT =
constraints and R is a penalty function. ρ n2 D 4

3.5 PROPELLER SERIES Q  (10)

KQ =
ρ n2 D5
Wageningen B-series is the propeller series selected to
perform the optimisation procedures. It has been chosen KT J (11)
o =
as one of the typical series used in the research field K Q 2
(Vettor and Guedes Soares, 2015, Vettor et al., 2016). The
polynomial curves of this series are developed based on  nD 2 
Rn = (12)
the open water analysis (Oosterveld and Van Oossanen, 
1975) to be further used in ship design, as mentioned
earlier in the literature review. Figure 3 shows a general
plan of the Wageningen B-series. The number of blades in where Rn is the Reynolds number, VA is the advance speed,
this propeller series varies from 3 to 7 blades. However, n is the propeller speed, ρ is the density, µ is the coefficient
in this study, 4 to 6 blades are only considered in the of dynamic viscosity, T is the thrust and Q is the torque. Cn,
simulation for a more realistic comparison. Table 3 shows Sn, tn, un and vn are constants that have different values in
the range of B-series parameters for a different number of equations (5) and (6).
blades. Based on the polynomial equations of the B-series,
the advance coefficient (J), the thrust coefficient (KT), With the existence of an inclined propeller shaft, the
torque coefficient (KQ), and the open water efficiency (ηo) numerical model follows the concepts presented in (Peck
are the main parameters used to evaluate the propeller and Moore, 1973, Peck, 1974), as shown in Figure 4.
performance using the following equations:
Table 3: Parameters of propeller series.
39
P
KT   Cn ( J ) Sn ( )tn ( EAR )un ( Z )vn  (5) Parameter Wagengein B-series
n 1 D
Number of blades 3–7
47
P
K Q   Cn ( J ) Sn ( )tn ( EAR )un ( Z )vn  (6) 0.35 – 0.80 for 3 blades
n 1 D 0.40 – 1.00 for 4 blades
Blade area ratio 0.45 – 1.05 for 5 blades
 KT ( Rn )   KT ( Rn  2  10 )   KT ( Rn ) 
6 0.50 – 0.95 for 6 blades
  6 
  0.55 – 0.85 for 7 blades
 K Q ( Rn )   K Q ( Rn  2  10 )  K Q ( Rn )   (7) Pitch/Diameter ratio 0.5 – 1.4
Advance coefficient 0.05 – 1.5
VA
J=  (8)
nD

Figure 3. General plan of Wageningen B-series (HydroComp, 2018).

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blade number for several starting points as follows: (1) LB,

(2) (LB + UB)/4, (3) (LB + UB)/2, (4) (LB + UB)*3/4,
(5) UB and (6) random values. The fourth case shows the
most suitable initial starting points for the optimizer in
terms of fuel consumption, as shown in Table 5.

Once the initial point is selected, the optimisation

procedures are applied to select the propeller geometry and
the operational point at a defined number of blades (4, 5
and 6), and inclined shaft angles vary between 0 degrees
(no inclination) and 5 degrees. The maximum value of the
inclined propeller shaft (5 degrees) is selected according
Figure 4. Force diagram along inclined propeller shaft
to the recommendations of ABS (2021) to eliminate the
(Peck, 1974).
vibration issues. The optimisation model verifies all the
constraints presented by the limitations of cavitation, noise
The perpendicular forces to the shaft as well as the thrust and strength.
and torque forces in the shaft are computed based on the
basics of trigonometry, taking into account the cosine Before exporting the results, the simulation is performed
effects against horizontal and without any changes in the again for all cases by setting the fifth initial starting point
flow angle to the propeller. (UB), as common for better propeller performance. It has
been found that the value of fuel consumption in the case of
Then, the cavitation issues are defined using the main six-blade and the 2-degree inclination angle is lower than
three methods shown in Table 4, Keller, average loading the optimum propeller in the same case while setting the
pressure and average predicted back cavitation percentage. fourth initial starting point. Therefore, the case with lower
The reference of each method is mentioned as well as fuel consumption is considered while exporting the results.
the limits to avoid cavitation problems. These limits are
used as constraints of the optimisation model. The second Table 6 shows the computed results of the performance
constraint is the blade strength, and it is computed where of the propeller among the different cases. While it is
the blade thickness must not be less than the computed challenging to read these presented data, a dimensionless
minimum blade thickness. Finally, the tip speed is the last technique is applied to convert these numbers to be between
constraint that is used to evaluate the level of noise from 0 and 1, and a sensitivity analysis is presented using bar
the propeller and the limits of the tip speed are well defined charts to be easily readable. Also, a box- and whisker-plot
in Table 4. is applied to visualize parameters variation through their
quartiles and identify the statistics parameters (McGill
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION et al., 1978). As in Figure 6, the top and bottom of each
box represent the upper and lower quartiles, respectively.
The optimizer used in this study is a local optimizer, and The line inside each box represents the median. The top
it is essential to check the initial starting points during and bottom bars represent the maximum and minimum
the optimizer configurations to achieve the minimum concentrations, respectively. The results are presented
fuel consumption. Therefore, the numerical computation using the two visualization techniques in figures 5 to 34.
is performed for the horizontal propeller and at a higher The simulation case is named according to the value of

Table 4: The different constraints considered in the optimisation model.

Parameter Method Reference Limits

Oosterveld and Van

Keller Greater than EARmin
Oossanen (1975)
Burrill chart (Burrill and
Cavitation Average loading pressure Less than 65 kPa
Emerson, 1963)
Average predicted back
Blount and Fox (1978) Less than 15%
cavitation percentage
Oosterveld and Van
Strength Minimum blade thickness Greater than minimum blade thickness
Oossanen (1975)
Less than 53 m/s for 3 and 4 blades
Noise Tip speed HydroComp (2018)
Less than 46 m/s for 5, 6, 7 blades

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Figure 7. Dimensionless EAR of different propeller

Figure 5. Dimensionless propeller diameter of different
blades at several inclined shaft angles.
propeller blades at several inclined shaft angles.

Figure 6. Box plot of propeller diameter among different Figure 8. Box plot of EAR among different
propeller blades. propeller blades.

the inclined shaft angle; for instance, when there is no The EAR is also an important parameter balanced
inclination, the simulation case is called case 0, and when to increase propeller efficiency and avoid cavitation
the inclination angle is 1, then the simulation case is called problems; therefore, the simulation is forced to minimize
case 1 and so on. All the propellers are designed to provide the EAR while keeping it greater than the minimum
the same thrust at the given ship speed no changes are EAR as calculated using the Keller method to prevent
detected for the computed values of wake fraction and cavitation. A small EAR variation is detected in some cases
thrust deduction fraction, as shown in Table 6. (1 and 2) along the different blades, as shown in Figure
7, while in Figure 8, the values of the EAR are shown the
From the following figures, it has been shown that the minimum level at four-bladed propellers followed by the
optimizer always tries to find the optimum propeller five-bladed then the six-bladed propellers. A very small
design at the maximum propeller diameter despite all variation in the EAR for all propellers with six blades has
the optimisation constraints. From figures 5 and 6, the been noticed.
difference between propeller diameters is not exceeding
2 cm among the different propeller blades. The minimum Finding a balanced propeller pitch diameter ratio is also an
propeller diameter is achieved at the higher number of effective way to improve propulsive efficiency. It has been
propeller blades (five and six blades), as shown in Figure 6. seen from figures 9 and 10 that the value of pitch diameter
This increment in propeller diameter in all cases plays an ratio exceeds 1 in most of the cases; also, it decreases with
important role in increasing the propeller efficiency as well the increase of blade numbers and in case 2, the pitch
as providing a sufficient propeller thrust. diameter ratio shows its lowest levels.

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Figure 12. Box plot of propeller speed among different

Figure 9. Dimensionless pitch diameter ratio of different propeller blades.
propeller blades at several inclined shaft angles.

Figure 10. Box plot of pitch diameter ratio among

different propeller blades. Figure 13. Dimensionless propeller efficiency of different
propeller blades at several inclined shaft angles.

In figures 11 and 12, the propeller speed increase with the

increase of propeller blades, which leads to a lower in the
values of gearbox ratios as in figures 15 and 16. This inverse
proportional relation is attained due to the consideration of
the same engine load diagram among the simulation cases.

By combining the higher propeller diameters and lower

propeller speeds, higher propeller efficiencies are realized
in cases with higher propeller blades, as shown in figures
13 and 14.

From figures 17 and 18, up to 20% difference in most of the

cases, except in case 2, is achieved between the different
advance coefficients, which varies between 0.4 and 0.53.
Similarly, the thrust and torque coefficients follow the same
trend as the advance coefficient shown in figures 19 to 22.

Figure 11. Dimensionless propeller speed of different While the optimized propellers among the different
propeller blades at several inclined shaft angles. propeller blades comply with the limitations of cavitation,

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Figure 14. Box plot of propeller efficiency among

different propeller blades. Figure 17. Dimensionless advance coefficient of different
propeller blades at several inclined shaft angles.

Figure 18. Box plot of advance coefficient among

Figure 15. Dimensionless gearbox ratio of different different propeller blades.
propeller blades at several inclined shaft angles.

Figure 16. Box plot of gearbox ratio among different Figure 19. Dimensionless thrust coefficient of different
propeller blades. propeller blades at several inclined shaft angles.

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Figure 20. Box plot of thrust coefficient among different

propeller blades. Figure 23. Dimensionless tip speed of different propeller
blades at several inclined shaft angles.

Figure 24. Box plot of tip speed among different

Figure 21. Dimensionless torque coefficient of different propeller blades.
propeller blades at several inclined shaft angles.

the four-bladed propellers show the lowest values of

propeller tip speed than in five- and six-bladed propellers
due to the significant reduction in propeller speed, as
shown in figures 23 and 24. By increasing the inclined
shaft angle, the values of the tip speed decrease among
the different blades. The balanced values of both propeller
speeds, EAR and wake fraction, lead to reduce computed
results of average loading pressure. Figures 25 and 26
show that the four-and five-bladed propeller shows the
lowest values of average loading pressure, while there is a
small variation in the six-bladed propeller. Figures 27 and
28 present the average back cavitation percentage values.
The values are lower than the maximum limit provided by
the design criterion, which is 15%. It has been shown that
the concentration of the values is almost similar in four-
Figure 22. Box plot of torque coefficient among different
and six-bladed propellers while it is higher in five-bladed
propeller blades.
propellers.

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Figure 28. Box plot of average back cavitation percentage

Figure 25. Dimensionless average propeller loading
among different propeller blades.
pressure of different propeller blades at several inclined
shaft angles.

Figure 26. Box plot of average propeller loading pressure

among different propeller blades. Figure 29. Dimensionless engine brake power of different
propeller blades at several inclined shaft angles.

According to the propeller geometry and the operational

point mentioned above, the six-bladed propellers show
that they can operate at lower engine brake power than the
four- and five-bladed propellers by up to 14%, as shown in
figures 29 and 30. While the difference between the BSFC
is not exceeding the 1% between the whole cases as in
figures 31 and 32, a significant reduction by up to 0.4 l/nm
(approximately 10%) in fuel consumption is detected
when considering the higher number of propeller blades as
shown in figures 33 and 34.

From all of the cumulative computed results, the optimized

six-bladed propeller at 2 degrees inclined propeller shaft
consumes less fuel than the other simulated cases and is
equal to the horizontal propeller shaft.
Figure 27. Dimensionless average back cavitation
percentage of different propeller blades at several inclined This fast numerical model-based optimisation technique
shaft angles. shows the ability to optimize the propeller geometry, the

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Figure 30. Box plot of engine brake power among

different propeller blades. Figure 33. Dimensionless fuel consumption of different
propeller blades at several inclined shaft angles.

Figure 34. Box plot of fuel consumption among different

Figure 31. Dimensionless engine BSFC of different propeller blades.
propeller blades at several inclined shaft angles.

operational point, and the inclined angle of the propeller

shaft for given propeller blades. This model can be used
during the preliminary stage of ship design that requires an
inclined propeller shaft according to the needs.

5. CONCLUSIONS

This paper presents a propeller optimisation model,

smoothly coupling NavCad and Matlab through API to
optimize the propeller performance at the engine operating
point with minimum fuel consumption. The computed
results of the optimized propeller performance with
different propeller blades and different inclined angles of
the propeller shaft are analyzed using dimensionless bar
Figure 32. Box plot of engine BSFC percentage among chart and box- and whisker plot techniques to have a wide
different propeller blades. overview of the optimum propeller performance.

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It has been concluded that: (2017). Simulation and performance comparison

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APPENDIX
Table 5: Performance of optimized propellers at different initial starting point.
Initial start LB (LB+UB)/4 (LB+UB)/2 (LB+UB)*3/4 UB Rand
Propeller type BSeries BSeries BSeries BSeries BSeries BSeries
Number of
Blades [-] 6 6 6 6 6 6
Inclined Angle [degree] 0 0 0 0 0 0
Thrust [kN] 15.9 15.9 15.9 15.9 15.9 15.9
Torque [kN.m] 1.88 2.43 2.37 2.35 2.85 2.23
Speed [RPM] 585 447 455 460 397 491
D [m] 0.95 0.95 0.95 0.95 0.96 0.95
EAR [-] 0.69 0.74 0.70 0.70 0.73 0.78
Propeller characteristics
P [m] 0.66 0.98 0.96 0.95 1.19 0.86
P/D [-] 0.69 1.03 1.01 1.00 1.25 0.91
η0 [%] 44 45 45 45 43 44
J [-] 0.35 0.45 0.44 0.44 0.51 0.42
KT [-] 0.20 0.34 0.33 0.32 0.42 0.29
KQ [-] 0.02 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.08 0.04
w [-] 0.306 0.306 0.306 0.306 0.306 0.306
t [-] 0.226 0.226 0.226 0.226 0.226 0.226
Tip Speed [m/s] 29.15 22.29 22.68 22.84 19.86 24.31
EARmin [-] 0.69 0.69 0.69 0.69 0.69 0.70
Cavitation Average loading
pressure [kPa] 32.19 30.14 31.77 31.86 30.15 29.10
Back Cavitation [%] 2.5 5.5 6.0 5.9 9.2 3.5
Gearbox characteristics GBR [-] 3.27 4.27 4.38 4.14 5.12 4.09
Speed [RPM] 1914 1911 1994 1902 2030 2008
Brake Power [kW] 121.20 120.40 119.00 119.20 124.70 121.20
Loading ratio [%] 0.61 0.60 0.60 0.60 0.62 0.61
Engine characteristics
BSFC [g/kW.h] 215.73 215.72 218.37 215.51 217.15 217.95
Fuel
consumption [l/nm] 3.48 3.46 3.46 3.42 3.60 3.52

©2022: The Royal Institution of Naval Architects A-313

TRANS RINA, VOL 164, PART A3, INTL J MARITIME ENG, JUL-SEP 2022

Table 6. Performance of optimized propellers at different blades and Inclined shaft angle.
Propeller type BSeries BSeries BSeries BSeries BSeries BSeries
Number of Blades [-] 4 4 4 4 4 4
Inclined Angle [degree] 0 1 2 3 4 5
Thrust [kN] 15.8 15.9 15.8 15.8 15.8 15.9
Torque [kN.m] 2.67 2.77 2.50 2.76 2.93 2.94
Speed [RPM] 435 426 460 427 406 400
D [m] 0.95 0.96 0.95 0.95 0.96 0.96
EAR [-] 0.83 0.71 0.62 0.74 0.77 0.97
Propeller characteristics P [m] 1.06 1.12 1.01 1.11 1.18 1.18
P/D [-] 1.12 1.17 1.06 1.17 1.23 1.22
η0 [%] 41.76 41.28 42.16 41.10 40.85 41.36
J [-] 0.46 0.47 0.44 0.47 0.49 0.50
KT [-] 0.35 0.37 0.32 0.37 0.39 0.40
KQ [-] 0.06 0.07 0.05 0.07 0.08 0.08
w [-] 0.306 0.306 0.306 0.306 0.306 0.306
t [-] 0.226 0.226 0.226 0.226 0.226 0.226
Tip Speed [m/s] 21.76 21.33 22.92 21.32 20.47 20.17
EARmin [-] 0.59 0.59 0.60 0.60 0.59 0.59
Cavitation
Average loading pressure [kPa] 26.66 31.19 36.24 29.90 28.12 22.33
Back Cavitation [%] 4.8 8.2 9.2 7.3 7.4 4.0
Gearbox characteristics GBR [-] 4.61 4.66 4.22 4.70 4.95 5.00
Speed [RPM] 2008 1985 1945 2006 2009 1998
Brake Power [kW] 129.30 129.90 126.50 130.80 131.80 131.70
Engine characteristics Loading ratio [%] 0.65 0.65 0.63 0.65 0.66 0.66
BSFC [g/kW.h] 216.78 216.63 216.18 216.61 216.50 216.50
Fuel consumption [l/nm] 3.73 3.74 3.64 3.77 3.80 3.79
Simulation time [s] 1676.69 2760.29 2511.19 1168.45 786.54 752.42

A-314 ©2022: The Royal Institution of Naval Architects

 TRANS RINA, VOL 164, PART A3, INTL J MARITIME ENG, JUL-SEP 2022

BSeries BSeries BSeries BSeries BSeries BSeries BSeries BSeries BSeries BSeries BSeries BSeries

5 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 6 6

0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5

15.9 15.9 15.8 15.9 15.8 15.8 15.9 15.8 15.9 15.9 15.8 15.9

2.44 2.67 1.75 2.33 2.47 3.09 2.35 2.51 2.24 2.63 2.52 2.73

457 429 664 490 456 384 460 432 477 419 431 409

0.95 0.95 0.94 0.95 0.95 0.96 0.95 0.95 0.95 0.95 0.95 0.95

0.67 0.70 0.66 1.05 0.87 0.67 0.70 0.69 0.69 0.69 0.69 0.69

0.99 1.09 0.57 0.87 0.97 1.30 0.95 1.04 0.89 1.10 1.04 1.15

1.04 1.15 0.61 0.92 1.02 1.34 1.00 1.09 0.93 1.15 1.09 1.20

43.64 42.55 41.88 42.80 43.18 40.78 44.99 44.66 45.46 44.19 44.60 43.58

0.44 0.47 0.31 0.41 0.44 0.52 0.44 0.47 0.42 0.48 0.47 0.49

0.33 0.37 0.16 0.28 0.32 0.44 0.32 0.36 0.30 0.38 0.36 0.40

0.05 0.07 0.02 0.04 0.05 0.09 0.05 0.06 0.04 0.07 0.06 0.07

0.306 0.306 0.306 0.306 0.306 0.306 0.306 0.306 0.306 0.306 0.306 0.306

0.226 0.226 0.226 0.226 0.226 0.226 0.226 0.226 0.226 0.226 0.226 0.226

22.73 21.35 32.74 24.41 22.77 19.40 22.84 21.56 23.83 20.92 21.55 20.42

0.65 0.64 0.65 0.64 0.64 0.63 0.69 0.69 0.69 0.69 0.69 0.69

33.52 31.87 34.24 21.22 25.55 32.33 31.86 32.20 32.21 32.16 32.20 32.19

7.2 8.2 2.3 2.0 3.3 13.1 5.9 7.7 5.1 8.8 7.8 9.9

4.40 4.68 2.93 3.99 4.40 5.12 4.14 4.60 4.10 4.77 4.45 4.77

2007 2007 1949 1955 2009 1969 1902 1988 1955 1999 1920 1949

122.60 126.00 127.70 127.90 125.40 131.30 119.20 120.00 117.90 121.20 120.10 123.00

0.61 0.63 0.64 0.64 0.63 0.66 0.60 0.60 0.59 0.61 0.60 0.62

217.73 217.22 216.15 216.30 217.29 216.22 215.51 218.15 217.83 217.99 216.16 216.82

3.55 3.64 3.67 3.68 3.63 3.78 3.42 3.48 3.42 3.52 3.45 3.55

1097.89 2082.21 1896.09 1923.87 3234.71 1085.42 1792.53 924.50 3607.06 1269.62 993.47 2114.81

©2022: The Royal Institution of Naval Architects A-315