Propeller Design Program
The Propeller Design Program computes propeller performance, using various design and off-design methods, from standard Gawn and Wageningen B-series propeller charts or propeller data input by the user. Data for Kaplan propellers operating in nozzles are also provided.
The program provides a rapid means of designing a propeller or investigating the influence on performance and efficiency of various design parameters.
1. My propellers are for a 13" diameter duct. The Kaplan data lists the series as 19, 24 and 37. Can the data be used on smaller propellers ? The nomenclature of the propeller files in the nozzle series is as follows:
- A – Kaplan blades have square tips that run just inside the inner surface of a nozzle, thus reducing tip losses (as in bow thrusters blades). B-series blades have the normal rounded tips of propellers in open flow, but can be run inside a nozzle, this is usually a retrofit as they don’t get the advantage of reduced tip loss.
- B – Four different nozzle types were tested these are designated as 19a, 22a, 24a, and 37a. 19a is the most common, used for tugs and fishing boats with heavily loaded propellers, fishing boats also get the advantage of having a guarded propeller to reduce fouling of lines, 37a is also used for tugs that need to use reverse thrust a lot. The number does not signify a size, but a shape.
- C – Number of blades is obvious.
- D – BAR is the blade area ratio, e.g. 0.65 means the developed blade area takes up 65% of the disc (less hub) area.
In the KT-KQ-J charts, all of the data is dimensionless, with most test propellers in the region of 4"-6" diameter for example, and run at high revs so increasing Reynolds numbers to reasonable levels. We would be happy to recommend the program to design props at any size between 3” and 10 metres diameter.
2. Can you provide further information upon nozzle / duct shaping ? A number of differing nozzle designs have been developed by MARIN (MArine Research Institute, Netherlands) for unique thrust characteristics. MARIN Nozzle No. 37 has a rather thick trailing edge, while MARIN Nozzle No. 19A was crafted with a thinner trailing edge. Nos. 22 and 24 were designed with larger length-diameter ratios (0.8 and 1, respectively). Although all four of these nozzle types present a large improvement over a non-ducted propeller, the differences between them are relatively small and refined. Nozzles No. 19A, 22, and 24 are somewhat more efficient than No. 37.
Release changes are cumulative.
Release Notes for Propeller Design Program Release 1, Version: 21.10.21.1
- Compliant with Windows 11 up to and including version 10.0.22000.
Release Notes for Propeller Design Program Release 1, Version: 28.09.17.1
- Compliant with Windows 10 up to and including version 1703.
Release Notes for Propeller Design Program Release 1, Version: 16.12.16.1
- Multipoint methods nos. 6 to 9 and nos. 11 to 13 only interpolated Relative Rotative Efficiency EtaR between 0.5 and 1.0 and restricted EtaR to 1.0 outside those limits. This occurred regardless of the EtaR input by the user in the EHP data page. The EtaR upper limit has now been raised from 1.0 to 1.1.
Release Notes for Propeller Design Program Release 1, Version: 03.09.15.3
- HASP hardware lock protection applied.
Release Notes for Propeller Design Program Release 1, Version: 02.02.15
- Pasting EHP data from Excel and other sources resulted in a 'Not a valid integer value' error. This has now been fixed.
Release Notes for Propeller Design Program Release 1, Version: 14.12.12
- 'Shaft losses' parameter name changed to 'Shaft efficiency', status bar hint modified accordingly.
- HTML help system.
Release Notes for Propeller Design Program Release 1, Version: 21.06.11
- Improved pasting of data into EHP page.
- Improved HTML output.
- Input for Relative Rotative Efficiency (previously defaulted to 1).
- Separate entry for shaft losses.
- Calculation of OPC.
Release Notes for Propeller Design Program Release 1, Version: 14.07.10
- Multi case EHP data generated with Power Prediction Program Release 2 and copied to the clipboard are now correctly imported.
Release Notes for Propeller Design Program Release 1, Version: 25.02.10
- File associations bug fixed: double clicking a propeller design file (*.pdd) will now start the program and load data.
Release Notes for Propeller Design Program Release 1, Version: 22.06.09
- The program can now run on a client machine with a single license dongle for other Wolfson software, provided that one license for Propeller Design is available on the license server.
- A machine with a single license dongle for Propeller Design can now be connected to a license server with a network dongle for other Wolfson software.
- Dongle-related error messages have been improved.
Release Notes for Propeller Design Program Release 1, Version: 09.02.09
- Compatibility with Power Prediction Program Release 2.
