Seventh International Symposium on Marine Propulsors

smp’22, Wuxi, China, October 2022

Design of the Wageningen F-series Propellers

John Huisman, Evert-Jan Foeth, Jesse Slot, Arjan Lampe, Joost Moulijn, Jie Dang

Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (MARIN), Wageningen, The Netherlands

and freedom of the design variables and the optimization

ABSTRACT
results, together with the knowledge of the JIP participants.
In 2018, the Maritime Research Institute Netherlands
This paper elaborates on the design process of the Wage-
(MARIN) started a Joint Industry Project (JIP) to develop
ningen F-series.
a new standard series of fixed-pitch propellers (FPP) that
represent contemporary propeller designs: the Wageningen 1.1 Market Developments
F-series Propellers. The primary objective of this F-series It is expected that FPPs will find wider application with
JIP is to provide the maritime industry with accurate, electric drives which have a much wider operational env-
realistic and competitive efficiency levels balanced against elope than the traditional diesel engines. To assess the
common cavitation, noise and vibration requirements. The typical conditions for which traditionally CPPs would be
F-series provide performance data in all four quadrants for applied, such as fast acceleration and stopping, fast cha-
each propeller of the series. nging of thrust direction and all kinds of manoeuvres, more
For each of the 150 F-series propellers a design condition accurate data for all quadrants is required.
was defined. To represent typical ship types, their design In the light of the global effort to reduce emissions, high
conditions were distributed across the F-series matrix. As demands are put on the efficiency of the propeller, while
a design philosophy, the aim was to have a smooth input in comfort requirements become stricter as well.
order to achieve a smooth output as well.
1.2 B-series History
The multi-objective optimisation tool was used together
with the Boundary Element Method (BEM) – PROCAL. Developments in the 1930s led to the design of propellers
The best propellers in terms of efficiency, cavitation with wide blade tips, circular back sections on the outer
(erosion risk), hull-pressure fluctuation levels and strength radii, and airfoil-shaped sections on the inner radii.
of the tip-vortex cavitation were smoothed into the series. Propellers of this type were called the B-series propellers.
The B4-40 propeller series was designed first and the series
The F-series geometry was designed for high efficiency
was gradually extended with larger blade area ratios and
and average comfort levels in representative in-behind
various blade numbers, until it reached its final number of
conditions, thereby allowing significant amount of non-
23 propeller types, ranging from B2-30 to B7-85, con-
erosive cavitation. Compared to the Wageningen B-series,
taining altogether 130 propellers.
the performance of the F-series is better: in efficiency,
cavitation behaviour and hull excitation levels. The measurements of the B-series propeller characteristics
were performed over a period of more than 30 years. Over
In summary, the F-series will provide realistic and com-
this time span measuring techniques as well as the quality
petitive efficiency levels balanced against common cavi-
of propeller model manufacturing were improved. For
tation, noise and vibration requirements. The F-series is
instance, tests were not always carried out at the same rota-
intended to replace the B-series.
tion rate that could be as low as 300 RPM. In the 1970s all
Keywords B-series data have been corrected for friction to a level
Propeller, PropArt, PROCAL, Wageningen B-series, Wa- corresponding to a Reynolds number (Re) of 2 ∙ 106 defi-
geningen F-series, Design, Optimization, Cavitation, Hull ned on the blade section at 0.75R. These are the data that
Excitation are used worldwide in polynomial form. Kuiper (1992) has
published the complete B-series data and provided an
overview of the publications.
1 INTRODUCTION
In 2018, the Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (M- 1.3 Contemporaneity
ARIN) started a Joint Industry Project (JIP) to develop a Traditionally, the performance data of the B-series prop-
new standard series of fixed-pitch propellers (FPP) that ellers are widely used in the early design stages of ships
represent contemporary propeller designs: the Wageningen and propellers. The efficiency of B-series propellers is
F-series Propellers. satisfactory, but the propeller design does not explicitly
The design of the F-series was approached as an iterative take cavitation performance into account, which is of equal
process between the supplied design input, the description importance nowadays.
The efficiency of the propellers of the new F-series should The F-series was made first, after which the FC-series
reflect the best achievable efficiency, while the requ- will follow. This paper only considers the F-series.
irements on cavitation (erosion), hull excitation and stre- F-series FC-series
ngth of tip-vortex cavitation should be taken into account Highest efficiency while Balance of efficiency
in the blade designs.
complying to cavitation and tip-vortex noise
1.4 Objectives erosion and hull excitation without sheet cavitation
The primary objective is to provide the maritime industry criteria
with accurate, realistic and competitive efficiency levels Cruise ships, yachts,
balanced against common cavitation, noise and vibration Merchant ships research ships
requirements. Over time, the F-series will replace the B-
series. 2.3 Design Conditions
For the design conditions, the aim was to have a smooth
2 F-SERIES DESIGN PHILOSOPHY input in order to achieve a smooth output. The input was
The B-series geometry is nearly constant with changes in prescribed as function of the main parameters. The data
blade area ratio and pitch only. The F-series propellers was based on the analysis of typical ships.
should vary systematically and smoothly in the radial During the iterative design process the data was further
distributions as a function of the main parameters, such that smoothed and interpolated.
each propeller within the F-series approaches conte- The combination of a prescribed thrust loading coefficient
mporary industrial designs. This approach was also used in 𝐶𝑇 , cavitation number 𝜎𝑁 , tip speed 𝜆 and diameter 𝐷
the development of the Wageningen C- and D-series [Dang provides sufficient information for the operational cond-
et al, 2013]. ition in addition to the wake field in which the propeller
operates. Moreover, to compute the hull excitation a clear-
2.1 Main Parameters
ance between the hull and the propeller tip was specified.
Similar to the B-series, the F-series are defined with three Finally, the astern torque ratio required by the DNV
main parameters: classification rules is used for propeller strength.
1. Blade number Z, ranging from 3 to 7.  The F-series are wake adapted for optimum performance
2. Pitch, defined as the pitch over diameter at 70% of the in-behind conditions, explicitly taking the wake of the
radius, denoted as PD or PD07, ranging from 0.6 to 1.6 ship into account. Hence, the behind ship efficiency is
in steps of 0.2 for the physical models. optimized, rather than the open water efficiency. An
3. Blade Area Ratio (BAR), defined as the expanded interpolation matrix for the wake fields was defined using
BAR, or the Ae/Ao, ranging from 0.3 to 1.1 for the 3- the full-scale effective wake fields of typical ships,
bladed propellers and 0.5 to 1.3 for the 7-bladed ranging from bulkers with low pitch and low blade area
propellers. Five propeller models with different BAR ratio, through container ships and LNG carriers, towards
are defined for each combination of Z and PD. fast displacement ships with high pitch and high blade
For the physical models, the BAR of the F-series was not area ratio.
defined with constant step, but by constant factor, putting  Propeller design computations were performed by
relatively more focus on the propellers with lower BAR iterating the advance speed towards a prescribed thrust
where the performance changes more rapidly compared to loading coefficient 𝐶𝑇 . Optimization for 𝐶𝑇 ensures
the higher BAR propellers. In total, 150 propeller models optimization for efficiency at a realistic operational
are produced at model scale. condition, without compromising the optimal radial
distribution of the thrust. Figure 1 (top) shows the
2.2 Design Hypothesis
distribution of 𝐶𝑇 for the 5-bladed propellers. Low PD,
It was hypothesized that for every combination of the main high BAR propellers feature high 𝐶𝑇 , while high PD, low
parameters Z - BAR - PD there would be a match with a BAR propellers operate at low 𝐶𝑇 .
single representative ship.
A database inventory showed that for container ships and  Optimization for realistic cavitation behaviour was
cruise ships, both the 5-bladed propellers coincide at PD = realized by prescribing the cavitation number 𝜎𝑁 at the
1.0, BAR = 0.6 and the 6-bladed propellers at PD = 1.1 and propeller shaft depth to obtain comparable cavity volu-
BAR = 0.8. In addition, design studies for these ship types mes for each design. The cavitation number was set to
indicated that these propellers differ fundamentally in the decrease strongly with an increase in BAR and a smaller
radial distributions. change with PD was implemented as the angle-of-attack
variation is typically larger that these high PD. The
Therefore it was decided to create two complementary
cavitation number is also dependent on the blade number
series. The large series of 150 propellers form the F-series
to account for the difference in the t/c ratio of the sections
tailored towards single-screw wakes, while a smaller series
and its corresponding dependency on the margin against
will be created later as a comfort line designed for twin-
bubble cavitation. Figure 1 (bottom) shows the
screw wakes.
distribution of 𝜎𝑁 for the 5-bladed propellers.
 in view of electric drives, an exception was made for the
high BAR propellers and high PD with low blade
number. In practice these propellers are generally used
for fast, very high powered ships only.
2.4 Design Parameters
The table below provides a summary of the parameters that
are used in the design of the F-series. The input and pres-
cribed parameters are required to perform the design
optimization of the pitch and maximum camber distr-
ibution, as well as the outline of the blade in terms of the
chord and skew distribution on which the rake and thi-
ckness depend.

Input Prescribed Design Dependent

Wake field Hub ratio Pitch Rake
Thrust loading 𝐶𝑇 Chord length Camber Thickness
Cavitation number 𝜎𝑁 at the hub Outline (DNV)
Tip speed Tip (skew +
Diameter thickness chord)
Hull-clearance
Astern torque ratio

The hub diameter and chord length at the hub are both a
polynomial resulting from the analysis of the MARIN
database.
The most commonly applied blade profiles by the industry
are used for the F-series as well. For the camber, the NACA
mean line is selected with a=0.6 at the hub to delay flow
separation and a=0.8 at 0.6R towards the tip. For thickness,
Figure 1: Thrust loading coefficient 𝑪𝑻 and cavitation the NACA66 DTMB mod distribution is applied perpen-
number 𝝈𝑵 as function of PD and BAR for the 5-bladed dicular to the nose-tail line.
propellers
 The tip speed ranges from 30 m/s for bulkers and LNG 3 F-SERIES DESIGN
carriers towards 50 m/s for fast displacement ships and
fast container ships. The tip speed is important to specify 3.1 Design Approach
the relation between the hydrodynamic pressure and the Nowadays, a competitive propeller can be designed using
hydrostatic pressure. optimization techniques. Therefore, the F-series design w-
as approached using optimization techniques and pol-
 The clearance between the propeller tip and the hull
ynomial fitting of the optimized parameters that describe
surface above the propeller was defined as well to
the geometry. The optimization and smoothing was itera-
evaluate hull excitation. The clearance ranges from 20%
tive between the supplied design input, the description of
to 50% of the diameter for a fast displacement ships and
the design variables and the optimization results. This des-
bulkers, respectively.
ign iteration loop is schematically presented by Figure 2.
 To estimate the global response levels due to propeller
induced hull excitation, DNV (as a participant to this JIP)
proposed to use an empirical transfer function to relate
the excitation force to the vertical vibration in the aft ship.
The first harmonic excitation force on the square virtual
plane of size 1.5 times the propeller diameter is mult-
iplied by a correlation factor. Hence, vibration is assumed
to be linear with the virtual force. The correlation factor
was determined based on the ship type and its displ-
acement.
 The prescription of the astern torque is important for the
propeller blade thickness in the area around 0.8R,
following from the DNV rules. Despite the ambition to
allow full torque astern for each propeller in the F-series Figure 2: Design iteration loop
Performance optimization was performed for a subset of 64 For the design and smoothing towards the geometry of the
propellers which are well distributed within the F-series F-series, the winner from each individual optimization was
matrix of 150 propellers and represent most of the typical hand-selected, for which Table 2 provides a scheme. The
ships. Pareto fronts for the subset of 64 combinations of the main
parameters Z, PD and BAR. From all fronts a winner was
3.2 Definition of Optimization Problem
selected and polynomial regression determined the relation
Multi-objective optimisation techniques provide the of all geometric parameters as a function of these main
various trade-offs between conflicting objectives and parameters, yielding a series description of the geometry.
indicate the influence of design constraints on the
achievable objectives. Table 1: Objectives and constraints within the pro-
To allow large design freedom, the propeller is fully peller optimization
parameterized in the radial pitch, camber and outline (both Objectives Constraints
chord and skew) distributions. These are defined as Bézier Maximize behind Avoid bubble cavitation with at least
curves of which the parameters (control points) form the efficiency 5% margin on cavitation number 𝜎𝑁
optimization variables. Within MARIN and the
Cooperative Research Ships (CRS), the multi-objective Minimize hull Comply to the cavity-planform
optimisation method PropArt has been developed for excitation, criterion for suction-side sheet-
propeller design optimisation studies. calculated as a cavitation such that the sheet
virtual force on a cavitation merges smoothly with tip
A genetic optimization algorithm was used to control the
flat plate above the vortex cavitation.
computational process and to provide input to the geometry
propeller
generator. Typically, 96 geometries are generated within Comply to the time ratio and aspect
each generation. Through subsequent generations, the Minimize ratio criteria for pressure-side
genetic algorithms modifies the design parameters to cavitation volume cavitation as determined in the EU
converge towards the best propellers within the design on all blades EROCAV project as reported by
space. Moulijn et al. (2006).
Each propeller geometry is scaled to the correct PD and
BAR, after which each geometry is subjected to a series of Table 2: Selection process for the F-series survivor
three PROCAL computations: from each particular optimization
1. Steady computation of open water characteristics
2. Unsteady computation in the specified wake field,
iterated to the specified thrust coefficient 𝑪𝑻 using the
inflow speed as iteration variable.
3. Cavitation computation for the same condition as the
unsteady fully-wetted computation.
Propeller computations were done with PROCAL
(Bosschers et al, 2008), a boundary element method (BEM)
which computes the inviscid flow around the propeller
operating in the ship’s wake field. Besides efficiency, the The entire series of 150 propellers would be analysed or its
calculations give the pressure distribution and the extent performance showing goal and constraint behaviour over
and dynamics of the sheet cavitation developing on the the wider design space.
propeller blades. PROCAL has been developed by MARIN In each design iteration (see Figure 2) the best geometries
within the framework of CRS and has been extensively from the optimizations were selected and smoothed as
validated. function of the main parameters PD, BAR and Z.
The results of the PROCAL computations are evaluated Subsequently, the input was further adjusted towards better
and converted into objectives and constraints. Three convergence and smoother polynomial-based description
objectives are defined for the design of the F-series, as of the F-series geometry. High curvature in the polynomial
given in Table 1. Further, in addition to the objectives, surfaces was avoided for the purposes of consistency and
three constraints are used to avoid cavitation erosion risk smoothness, which was regarded as more important than
in the prescribed design condition. the recording of every detail from the individual
optimizations.
3.3 Optimization results
For a normal optimization the Pareto front shows the trade- 3.4 Geometry and Smoothing
offs of all solutions. An example is given in Figure 11 and The following summarizes the iterative path towards the
Figure 12 at the end of this paper. The radial distributions geometry description of the F-series:
are shown as well as the Pareto Fronts (converging from  The blade thickness of the F-series follows the DNV
blue to red) and the open water diagrams. Individual rules. The final polynomial description defines the radial
G73P35 was chosen as a winner from this optimization. distribution. For simplicity reasons, it was chosen to
describe the thickness with a simple cubic Bezier curve,
 such that both the thickness at 0.6R and 0.8R fulfil the at 0.7R is mainly driven by cavitation constraints, either
rules. The thickness at the tip is equal (0.0035D) for all by the bubble cavitation criterion, the cavity planform or
propellers. the pressure-side cavitation. After smoothing, clear
 A fit was made on the input parameters of the blade trends were found. The camber at 0.7R increases with PD
outline function from the selected propellers from the and decreases with BAR and Z.
optimizations. It was found that the chord distribution
was captured by a 4th order Bezier with control points at
the hub, 0.8R and the tip. The majority of the propellers
is relatively well captured by this simple and smooth
description of the chord length.
 For the skew a similar procedure was followed. A
parabolic Bezier curve with quadratic polynomial input
captures the majority of the propellers sufficiently
accurate and provides consistency within the F-series. In
general, the wider blades (higher BAR or lower Z) have
higher skew. Figure 4: Camber polynomials at root and 0.7R
 The rake of the F-series balances the skew-induced rake
and keeps the blade as tight as possible above the hub so
4 COMPUTED PERFORMANCE
that the propeller can lay down on the pressure side for
storage. The rake was not optimized for hydrodynamic The performance of the 150 F-series propellers was
performance. No special tip-rake was applied. computed by PROCAL.
 For the pitch, initial optimizations allowed much freedom 4.1 Efficiency
with a 5th order Bezier curve. Nonetheless, it was found The behind efficiency of the F-series as calculated by
that a simple parabolic Bezier curve, always forced PROCAL will be higher than the B-series as shown by
towards maximum pitch at 0.7R, would describe the Figure 5 (left).
optimization results sufficiently accurate. Only the pitch
reduction at hub and tip are required as design
parameters. Bilinear polynomials were found to capture
the trends from the optimizations well. An impression is
given in Figure 3. The low BAR propellers have more
pitch reduction, compared to higher BAR propellers,
both at the hub and at the tip. According to the
optimizations, a pitch distribution like the F-series
provides an optimum balance between efficiency, hull
excitation and the stability and non-erosiveness of the
sheet cavitation.

Figure 5: Efficiencies (compared to B-series) and

cavitation area. From blue, via green, to red: low BAR
to high BAR.
The two series were analysed at the same 𝐶𝑇 , whereby the
pitch of the B-series was updated to obtain the same point
Figure 3: Pitch polynomials of operation.
 Pitch and camber were balanced iteratively to obtain For some F-series propellers the open water efficiency 𝜂0
smooth distribution while maintaining acceptable is lower compared to the B-series. This may be deduced
cavitation behaviour. The radial camber distribution was from Figure 5 comparing left to middle graph. The Δ𝜂𝑏 𝜂0
described using a cubic Bezier curve. The input are represents the difference between behind efficiency and
quadratic polynomials for the camber at the hub, and the open water efficiency. Hence, in general, the F-series are
camber at 0.7R. An impression is given in Figure 4. The better adapted to the wake fields compared to the B-series.
optimization steers towards relatively high camber at the For the 5-bladed F-series the computed open water
root for the low PD and low BAR propellers, which characteristics are presented in Figure 13 at the end of the
appears to be optimal for the behind efficiency if there paper. The curved black line in the figure represents the
are low velocities in the wake near the hub. The camber ideal efficiency. In addition to the lines for 𝐾𝑇 , 𝐾𝑄 and 𝜂0 ,
the cross markers indicate the 𝐾𝑇 or CT and 𝜂𝑏 in the wake
field and the bold lines give an indication of the variation
of 𝐾𝑇 or 𝐶𝑇 and 𝜂𝑏 of one propeller blade within the wake
field.
The PROCAL computations show clear and consistent
trends as function of main parameters.
4.2 Design Check
During the design phase, various checks were carried out,
including model tests on preliminary F-series designs.
Both the model test data and the data corrected towards
full-scale performance with commonly applied scale
effects from ITTC and the PROCAL computations are
presented in Figure 6 for a preliminary F-series design of a
5-bladed propeller with BAR = 0.53 and PD = 1.0.

Figure 6: Comparison of model test and PROCAL

The efficiency level is at a level that may be expected from Sketches of the computed cavitation for some of the
contemporary propeller designs. PROCAL is close propellers are presented in Figure 7 for the F5-69 and in
concerning efficiency when close to the design point at J = Figure 8 for two other propellers with extreme BARs.
0.75, and when compared with the scale effect corrected
results. Nonetheless, PROCAL gives overestimation of KT
Figure 7: Cavitation outline for the F5-69 (see table 3
and significant overestimation of KQ at lower J values.
for explanation of colors)
These kind of differences between PROCAL and model
tests are observed regularly for propellers in the MARIN However, there are some outliers at the high PD, high
database. BAR, high Z that have some potentially erosive root
cavitation at both suction side and pressure side, as shown
4.3 Cavitation
in Figure 8 for the F5-120 PD = 1.6 in Figure 8.
The maximum cavitation area in percentage of the blade
area of one blade is presented by Figure 5 (right). In the
wake peak, typically the cavitation area is 20 to 40 percent
of the blade area, except some of the high BAR propellers
with high pitch.
According to the computations, the sheet-cavitation for
most propellers in the F-series behaves exemplary. The
cavitation is stable, increasing in length with radii and
retracts towards the tip, smoothly ending in the tip vortex.
The cavitation behaves in similar consistent manner over
the pitch as shown in Figure 7. The outline of the propeller
blade is presented in black, the cavitation is presented in
different colours according to Table 3. Figure 8: Cavitation outline for two other F-series
Table 3: Legend for the colours in the cavitation figures propellers (see table 3 for explanation of colors)
Black Blue Green Red Purple No clear difference in cavitation behaviour as function of
Non-erosive Growing Complies to Erosion Pressure-
blade number was seen, when compared for equal area of
region phase, outline risk side
one blade, although more super cavitation is observed for
non- criterion, cavitation
the propellers with more blades.
erosive non-erosive
For reference, Figure 9 shows an example of the cavitation Figure 10 (middle) considers the relation between the
behaviour of the B-series, computed in the same maximum pressure fluctuation and the integrated vertical
conditions. In general, the B-series show less stable sheet force which shows a poor correlation.
cavitation. The cavitation of the F-series at similar The empirical approach as proposed by DNV was used to
condition is much closer to contemporary designs. relate the first harmonic virtual force to vertical vibrations
Due to the focus on high efficiency, the cavitation volume levels. Figure 10 (right) presents the predicted vibration
of the F-series is not always less compared to the B-series, levels. Levels up to 4 and 10 mm/s are classified as average
but the behaviour is significantly more favourable. For for ships with aft and forward accommodation
higher BAR, the differences between the behaviour of the respectively.
B-series and F-series become smaller. The approach by DNV only uses the first harmonic
contribution to the excitation force due to the substantial
uncertainties in the measurement or computational
methods for the higher harmonics. Therefore, the higher
harmonics are correlated within the empiricism of the
approach. Nevertheless, during the optimization, the
choice was made to minimize the total virtual force, instead
of just the first harmonic force in order to avoid high levels
for the higher harmonics.
Although both the computations with PROCAL and the
DNV approach are engineering tools, they were considered
capable to steer the characteristics of the F-series
propellers. This analysis indicates that the F-Series are
Figure 9: B-series propellers computed in similar cond- designed with a focus on high efficiency, while staying at
itions as the F-series the average comfort levels.

4.4 Hull Excitation

Traditionally, hull excitation is quantified by the maximum 5 CONCLUSIONS
amplitude of the first harmonic of the pressure fluctuation. The F-series was designed for high efficiency with
Typically, 3 to 5 kPa is regarded as a limit for merchant acceptable cavitation behaviour and hull excitation,
ships, measured above the propeller. approaching the performance of modern industry standard
The computed levels for the F-series are shown in Figure propeller designs. The following conclusions summarize
10 (left), which are significantly higher levels compared to the F-series design:
traditional experience with model tests, especially for the  The F-series was defined with main parameters of blade
higher pitch propellers. PROCAL overestimates both number Z from 3 to 7 blades, pitch (PD) from 0.6 to 1.6,
cavitation volume and hull excitation (especially the peak and blade area ratio (BAR) ranging from 0.3 to 1.1 for
of the first harmonic), presumably due to the absence of the 3-bladed propellers and 0.5 to 1.3 for the 7-bladed
prediction of the rolling motion of the sheet cavitation propellers.
along the leading edge towards the retraction into the tip  In contrast to the B-series, the radial distributions of the
vortex. F-series propeller designs vary systematically and
smoothly in geometry, tailored to its most common ship
type. For each of the 150 F-series propellers a design
condition was defined as basis for the computational
evaluation.
 As a design philosophy, the aim was to have a smooth
input in order to achieve a smooth output. The input was
prescribed for each combination of PD, BAR and Z. The
data was based on the analysis of typical ships, after
which it was smoothed and interpolated during the
iterative process in the design optimization cycle.
 Optimization studies were performed for a subset of 64
propellers within the F-series matrix. Efficiency was
maximized, while hull excitation and cavitation volume
were minimized. Cavitation erosion constraints were
used to steer towards non-erosive cavitation.
Figure 10: Computed hull excitation for 5-bladed F-  The design of the F-series was approached as an iterative
series propellers. From blue, via green, to red: low BAR process between the supplied design input, the
to high BAR. description and freedom of the design variables and the
 optimization results. In each design iteration the best implemented in software for practical use by the
geometries from the optimizations were selected and participants.
smoothed over the main parameters PD, BAR and Z.
Subsequently, the input is further adjusted towards better
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
convergence and smoother description of the F-series
geometry. The authors thank all participants in the Joint Industry
 Several iterations of decreasing complexity and Project of the Wageningen F-series Propellers: MAN,
increasing smoothness were done to arrive at DSME, Kawasaki, Kongsberg, Steerprop, Tevo Lokomo,
CSSRC, VICUSdt, DMO, Dominis, ABB, Niigata,
contemporary designs for each of the F-series propellers.
Kamome, Voith, Schaffran Propeller, ProMarin, MES,
The radial distributions were simplified and described
LRS, DNV, Naval Group, Hyundai HI, Damen, Brunvoll,
using Bezier curves with polynomial input as function of
Andritz, Wärtsilä, CMDRC, Thyssenkrupp Marine
the three main parameters.
Systems, Berg Propulsion, Chantiers de l’Atlantique,
 According to the PROCAL computations the behind Navantia, MARIC, Samsung, SMERI and SMMC.
efficiency of the F-series is higher than the B-series. In
In addition, this JIP has also been supported by MARIN’s
general, the F-series are both better adapted to the wake
research fund MaFu and Dutch government TKI funding.
field and most propellers provide higher open water
efficiency as well.
 The sheet-cavitation for most propellers behaves REFERENCES
exemplary and is consistent over most of the propellers G. Kuiper, ‘The Wageningen Propeller Series’, MARIN
within the series. Typically, the cavitation extent is 20 to Publication 92-001, published on the occasion of its
40 percent of the blade area. 60th anniversary, Wageningen, the Netherlands, 1992.
 The magnitude of the vertical excitation force was J. Bosschers, G. Vaz, A.R. Starke, H.C.J. van Wijngaarden,
preferred over the traditional hull pressure fluctuation “Computational analysis of propeller sheet cavitation
level as optimization goal. For the interpretation of the and propeller-ship interaction”. In: RINA conference
hull forces, an empirical approach from DNV was used “MARINE CFD2008”, Southampton, UK, March
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levels. J. Dang, J. Brouwer, R. Bosman and C. Pouw, ‘Quasi-
 The F-series geometry was designed for high efficiency Steady Two-Quadrant Open Water Tests for the
and average comfort levels, thereby allowing significant Wageningen Propeller C- and D-Series’, Proceedings
amount of non-erosive cavitation. of the 29th ONR, Gothenburg, Sweden, 26-31 August,
In summary, the F-series will provide realistic and 2012.
competitive efficiency levels balanced against common J. Dang, H. van den Boom & J.Th. Ligtelijn. ‘The
cavitation, noise and vibration requirements. Over time, Wageningen C-and D-Series Propellers’, Proceedings
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Figure 11: Example of optimization results with Pareto fronts for the F5-69 PD = 1.0 (part I)
Figure 12: Example of optimization results with Pareto fronts for the F5-69 PD = 1.0 (part II)
Figure 13: Computed (full scale values) open water characteristics of the 5-bladed F-series