Ship wake scaling and effect on propeller performances

The propeller performances and in particular the non-stationary cavitating behaviour and its side effects, namely induced pressure pulses and radiated noise, are strongly dependent on the ship wake field. As a consequence, a correct prediction of the ship wake, considering the differences between model and full scale, is of utmost importance. In present study, results obtained by means of traditional and well established semi-empirical methods for wake scaling and direct RANS computations are compared, considering not only the differences in the wake field, but also their effect on the propeller non-stationary behavior, which is evaluated by means of a panel code. The results of the study allow to exploit the differences which may be expected by the designer using these different approaches