Swirl Recovery Vanes (SRVs) are a row of stationary vanes located downstream of a single-rotating propeller to recover swirl losses and thereby enhance propulsive efficiency. This paper presents the development, application, and experimental validation of a low-order SRVs design tool. The design procedure consists of three steps: first the inflow velocities can be obtained either from the simulation of isolated propeller or from experimental measurements, after which the loading distribution is defined using lifting-line theory, and lastly an airfoil design routine is performed. The design method features both a short computation time useful in the preliminary design phase and parameter investigation, and a detailed vane-shape representation, such that the final overall blade shape can be determined. In this study the model is presented together with a test example, consisting of a set of SRVs designed for a six-bladed propeller operating at high disk-loading condition. Results from the computations are subsequently experimentally validated in a wind-tunnel test of the designed model. The additional thrust generated by the SRVs was measured at different propeller loading conditions. At the design point a 2.6% increase of thrust was reported, together with a similar amount of improvement in the propeller propulsive efficiency. Velocity profiles obtained with PIV fields in the propeller slipstream were used as validation of the numerical simulation, together with quantification of the swirl recovery by SRVs.
展开▼
