In the design on the firm maneuverable surface of a new international submarine, a conformal layout that integrates the front stable wing and the rear rotation rudder to form a complete wing-shape profile was applied. To study the difference in the hydrodynamic performance between the conformal rudder and the conventional rudder, model tests and numerical simulations were conducted along with hydrodynamic and flow field analyses. The results show that the conformal rudder could maintain the smoothness of the streamline at the connection with rudder wing at a small rudder angle. At a rudder angle of 5°, the total lift force of the conformal rudder was 65.3% greater than that of the conventional non-conformal rudder; whereas at large rudder angles, the detached vortex was easily dropped from the back of the conformal rudder and the lift performance deteriorated. At a rudder angle of 25°, the total lift force of the conformal rudder was 9.2% smaller than that of the conventional non-conformal rudder. The result indicates that the turbulent kinetic energy in the wake zone of the conformal rudder is low and flow stability is high at small rudder angles. © 2018, Editorial Department of Journal of HEU. All right reserved.
