ANALISIS VARIASI JUMLAH BLADE PROPELLER KAPAL MV KASWARI ELOK 87 TERHADAP THRUST DAN TORQUE MENGGUNAKAN METODE COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS

Abstract

Propellers are an important part of a propulsion system because they affect hydrodynamic efficiency, maneuverability, and energy consumption on ships. One way to improve this is through research and innovation in propeller design that suits the ship's operating characteristics. This study aims to analyze the effect of blade number on thrust and torque values in ship propellers. The simulation was conducted using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method with ANSYS Fluent software. The number of blades was varied to 3, 4, and 5 blades at three speed conditions, namely 250, 500, and 1000 rpm. The turbulence model used was standard k-ε. The simulation stages included geometry creation, meshing, boundary condition setting, and analysis of results in the form of graphs, pressure contours, velocity contours, and velocity streamlines. The results showed that variations in the number of propeller blades had a significant effect on pressure distribution, flow patterns, thrust, and torque. The 4-blade propeller produces a more even pressure distribution with a stable gradient. This results in more controlled flow, especially at high speeds. The 5-blade propeller shows optimal performance at 500 rpm with the highest thrust and torque, but at 1000 rpm there is a decrease due to turbulent flow and potential cavitation. Meanwhile, the 3-blade propeller shows a linear increase in torque with rpm, with more stable flow at high speeds. These findings indicate that the number of blades plays an important role in determining flow stability, propulsion efficiency, and the optimal operating speed range of the propeller.