Time-domain analysis of the hydroelastic response of cavitating propulsors

A 3-D boundary element method (BEM) is coupled with a 3-D finite element method (FEM) to model the hydroelastic response of cavitating propulsors. The BEM is applied to evaluate the moving cavity boundaries and hydrodynamic forces, as well as the added mass and hydrodynamic damping matrices. The FEM is applied to evaluate the dynamic blade stresses and deformations. The effects of fluid-structure interaction are included by superimposing the added mass and hydrodynamic damping matrices to the material mass and damping matrices in the equilibrium equation of motion. The problem is solved in the time-domain using an implicit time integration scheme. An overview of the formulation is presented along with numerical and experiment validation studies. The effects of fluid-structure interaction and cavitation on the propeller performance are discussed.