Partitioned simulation of the acoustic behavior of flexible marine propellers using finite and boundary elements

Abstract

In the last years, classification societies have announced several specifications regarding the limitation of the noise level of ships. Accordingly, the prediction of the acoustic signature of cavitating propellers, which are the main source for noise generation, has attracted a lot of interest. For an accurate numerical simulation of the underlying physics, the deformation of the propeller has to be taken into account, which results in a fluid-structure interaction (FSI) problem. In order to utilize different discretization methods for the individual sub-problems, we apply a partitioned solution approach. This makes it possible to use a finite element solver for the structural problem, while a boundary element solver is used for the fluid problem. From the solution of the FSI problem, the acoustic pressure in the far field is obtained using the Ffowcs William-Hawking equation.