Ships and underwater vehicles like submarine and torpedoes use propeller for propulsion. In general, propellers are used to develop significant thrust to propel the vehicle at its operational speed and RPM. The blade geometry and design are complex involving many controlling parameters. Propeller with conventional isotropic materials creates more vibration and noise in their operation. It is undesirable in stealth point of view. In the recent years the increased need for light weight structural element with acoustic insulation has led to the use of fiber reinforced multi layered composite propeller. The present work is aimed at the static and dynamic analysis of alluminium as well as composite propeller which is a combination of GFRP (Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastics) and CFRP (Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics) materials. Modeling and analyzing the propeller blade of a underwater vehicle for their strength are carried out in the present work. A propeller is a complex geometry and requires high end modeling in its software. The solid model of propeller is developed in CATIA V5 R17. HEXA mesh is generated for the model using HYPERMESH. Static, Eigen and frequency responses analysis of both alluminium and composite propeller are carried out in ANSYS. Inter laminar shear stresses are calculated for composite propeller by varying the number of layers. The stresses obtained are well within the limit of elastic property of the materials. The natural frequencies of composite propeller are found to be higher than that of alluminium propeller and the harmonic analysis of composite propeller are also better than that of alluminium propeller.

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International Journal of Research and Innovation (IJRI)
International Journal of Research and Innovation (IJRI)
COMPARISON OF ALUMINUM & COMPOSITE MATERIALS
FOR SHIP PROPELLER USING FEA
D.Ravikumar 1*
, K.Durga2
,
1 Research Scholar, Department Of Mechanical Engineering, Vikas college of Engineering and Technology,Vijayawada rural,India
2 Assistant professor , Department Of Mechanical Engineering, Vikas college of Engineering and Technology,Vijayawada rural,India
*Corresponding Author:
D.Ravikumar ,
Research Scholar, Department Of Mechanical Engineering,
Vikas college of Engineering and Technology,
Vijayawada rural,India
Published: January 22, 2015
Review Type: peer reviewed
Volume: II, Issue : I
Citation: D.Ravikumar, Research Scholar (2015)
COMPARISON OF ALUMINUM & COMPOSITE MATERI-
ALS FOR SHIP PROPELLER USING FEA
INTRODUCTION
Motivation for the Project
Ships and under water vehicles like submarines,
torpedoes and submersibles etc., Uses propeller
for propulsion. The blade geometry and its design
is more complex involving many controlling param-
eters. The strength analysis of such complex 3d
blades with conventional formulas will give less ac-
curate values. In such cases numerical analysis (fi-
nite element analysis) gives comparable results with
experimental values.
In the present project the propeller blade material is
converted from aluminum metal to fiber reinforced
composite material for underwater vehicle propeller.
Such complex analysis can be easily solved by finite
element method techniques.
3-Bladed
4-Bladed
Abstract
Ships and underwater vehicles like submarine and torpedoes use propeller for propulsion. In general, propellers are
used to develop significant thrust to propel the vehicle at its operational speed and RPM. The blade geometry and design
are complex involving many controlling parameters. Propeller with conventional isotropic materials creates more vibra-
tion and noise in their operation. It is undesirable in stealth point of view. In the recent years the increased need for
light weight structural element with acoustic insulation has led to the use of fiber reinforced multi layered composite
propeller. The present work is aimed at the static and dynamic analysis of alluminium as well as composite propeller
which is a combination of GFRP (Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastics) and CFRP (Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics) materials.
Modeling and analyzing the propeller blade of a underwater vehicle for their strength are carried out in the present
work. A propeller is a complex geometry and requires high end modeling in its software. The solid model of propeller is
developed in CATIA V5 R17. HEXA mesh is generated for the model using HYPERMESH. Static, Eigen and frequency
responses analysis of both alluminium and composite propeller are carried out in ANSYS. Inter laminar shear stresses
are calculated for composite propeller by varying the number of layers. The stresses obtained are well within the limit of
elastic property of the materials. The natural frequencies of composite propeller are found to be higher than that of al-
luminium propeller and the harmonic analysis of composite propeller are also better than that of alluminium propeller.
1401-1402

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International Journal of Research and Innovation (IJRI)
5-Bladed
Composite propeller.
Composite propeller employed for marine
application
The structural analysis is done for the six bladed
solid alluminium as well as composite propeller.
The structural analysis includes the evaluation of
static and dynamic analysis for the propeller blades,
eigen value analysis and harmonic analysis are per-
formed to compare the results. The goal of this tri-
dent project is to design, and evaluate the perfor-
mance of the composite propeller with that of the
alluminium propeller.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Propeller:
Propellers will be used as a propulsors where the
speed is slow and the propeller has to be immersed
completely in the water into a depth of minimum
2D. The efficiency of the propeller will be reduced
and noise will increase and start cavitations as the
speed increases. At high speeds the pump jet and
water jet propellers will be used.
OVERVIEW OF PROPELLER
PROPELLER TYPES
Depending on the type of application different pro-
pellers are to be used
(i) Super cavitating Propeller
(ii) Voith Schneider Propeller
(iii) Contra rotating Propeller
(iv) Nozzle propeller
(v) Jet propeller.
Elastic Properties of a Lamina
UNIDIRECTIONAL CONTINUOUS FIBER 0º
LAMINA
Longitudinal modulus = E11
= Ef
Vf
+ Em
Vm
Major Poisson’s ratio = μ12
= μf
Vf
+μm
Vm
Transverse Modulus = E22
=
FMMf
mf
VEVE
EE
+
Minor Poisson’s ratio = μ12
= 12
11
22
µ
E
E
Shear Modulus = G12
=
fmmf
mf
GG
GG
µµ +
stress –strain diagram for a hypothetical composite
Unidirectional Continuous Fiber Angle-Ply
Lamina

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International Journal of Research and Innovation (IJRI)
Failure Criteria
As the material properties of the laminated compos-
ite plate are completely contained in the matrices
of elastic module, standard data recovery methods
may be used to calculate stresses in individual lam-
ina and the forces sustained by the laminate.
Finite Element Method
Introduction to finite element method
With the rapid advancement of technology, the com-
plexity of the problem to be dealt by a design engineer
is also increasing. This scenario demand speedy,
efficient and optimal design from an engineer. To
keep pace with the development and ensure better
output, the engineer to day resorting to numerical
methods. For problems involving complex shapes,
material properties and complicated boundary con-
ditions, it is difficult and in many cases intractable
to obtain analytical solutions. Numerical methods
provide approximate but acceptable solutions to
such problems.
Mechanical properties of EPOXY+GFRP:
E1
=22925 N/mm2
E2
=22925N/mm2
E3
=12400 N/mm2
υ1
=0.12
υ2
=0.30
υ3
=0.30
G12
=4700N/mm2
G23
=4200 N/mm2
G13
=4200 N/mm2
Density= 1.8e -9
tons/mm
Mechanical properties of EPOXY+CFRP:
E1
=75000 N/mm2
E2
=10000 N/mm2
E3
=10000 N/mm2
υ1
=0.16
υ2
=0.35
υ3
=0.16
G12
=5200N/mm2
G23
=3800 N/mm2
G13
=6 000N/mm2
Density= 1.6e-9
tons/mm3
Resuls And Disscussions
The thrust of 4000n is applied on face side of the
blade in the region between 0.7R and 0.75R. The
intersection of hub and shaft point’s deformations
in all directions are fixed. The thrust is produced
because of the pressure difference between the face
and back sides of propeller blades. This pressure
difference also causes rolling movement of the un-
derwater vehicle. This rolling movement is nullified
by the forward propeller which rotates in other direc-
tion (reverse direction of aft propeller). The propeller
blade is considered as cantilever beam i.E. Fixed at
one end and free at other end. The deformation pat-
tern for aluminum propeller is shown in figure. The
maximum deflection was found as 0.371Mm in y-
direction. Similar to the cantilever beam the deflec-
tion is maximum at free end.
Maximum principal stress value for the
aluminum propeller are shown in figure The von
misses stress on the basis of shear distortion en-
ergy theory also calculated in the present analysis.
The maximum von misses stress induced for alu-
minum blade is 29.512 N/mm2 as shown in figure.
The stresses are greatest near to the mid chord of
the blade-hub intersection with smaller stress mag-
nitude toward the tip and edges of the blade.
Result Aluminum propeller
Deflection in mm 0.371
Max. normal stress Mpa 32.845
Von misses Mpa 29.512
1st principal stress Mpa 33.211
2nd principal stress Mpa 9.960
max deflection of aluminum propeller
max normal stress of aluminum propeller
max von misses stress of aluminum propeller

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International Journal of Research and Innovation (IJRI)
Static analysis of composite propeller:
Four cases are considered for static analysis of com-
posite propeller by varying the number of layers to
check the bonding strength. Inter laminar shear
stresses are calculated for all cases.
Case 1: 4 Layers
Case2: 8 layers
Case 3: 12 layers
Case 4: 16 layers.
Case1: Analysis results of 4 layers
Maximum deflection for composite propeller with
4 layers was found to be 1.211Mm z-direction i.E.
Perpendicular to fibers of the blade as shown in fig-
ure 6.4. The maximum normal stress was found to
be 37.55 N/mm2
as shown in figure 6.5.The maxi-
mum von mises stress was found to be 45.439 N/
mm2
as shown in figure 6.6. The maximum inter
laminar shear stress was found to be 4.990 N/mm2
as shown in figure At top of 4th layer.
Max. Deflection of composite propeller with 4 layers.
Max. Von misses stress of composite propeller with 4 layers
Case2: Analysis results of 8 layers
Maximum deflection for composite propeller with
8 layers was found to be 1.181Mm in z-direction
i.E. Perpendicular to fibers of the blade as shown in
figure. The maximum normal stress was found to
be 40.050 N/mm2
as shown in figure.The maximum
von mises stress was found to be 48.824N/mm2
as
shown in figure. The maximum inter laminar shear
stress was found to be 4.79 N/mm2
as shown in
figure In compression at top of 8th layer.
max. deflection of composite propeller with 8 layers
max normal stress of composite propeller with 8 layers
max. von misses stress of composite propeller with 8 layers
Case 4: Analysis results of 16 layers
Maximum deflection for composite propeller with 16
layers was found to be 1.164m in Z-direction i.e.
perpendicular to fibers of the blade as shown in fig-
ure. The maximum stress was found to be 40.581
N/mm2
as shown in figure.The maximum von mises
stress was found to be 50.588 N/mm2
as shown in
figure. The maximum inter laminar shear stress
was found to be 4.704N/mm2
as shown in figure in
compression at top of 16th
layer.

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International Journal of Research and Innovation (IJRI)
max. Deflection of composite propeller with 16 layers
max stress of composite propeller with 16 layers
max. Von misses stress of composite propeller with 16 layers
HARMONIC ANALYSIS OF ALUMINUM
PROPELLER:
In this harmonic analysis for aluminum propeller,
amplitude vs. Frequency graphs are plotted. It is
observed that resonance occurs in the frequency
range of 500 hz in ux direction, was found same in
other two directions as shown in figures.
amp-freq graph of aluminum propeller in Ux direction
amp-freq graph of aluminum propeller in Uy direction
amp-freq graph of aluminum propeller in Uz direction
HARMONIC ANALYSIS OF COMPOSITE PROPEL-
LER WITH 4 LAYERS:
In this harmonic analysis with 4 layers, Amplitude
vs. frequency graphs are plotted. It is observed that
resonance occurs in the frequency range of 1800-
2500 Hz in Ux direction as show in figure. and in
Uy direction it is observed around 2500-3000Hz as
shown in figure.and in Uz direction it is observed
around 2500-3000Hz as shown in figure

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International Journal of Research and Innovation (IJRI)
amp-freq graph for 4 layers in Ux direction
amp-freq graph for 4 layers in Uy direction
amp-freq graph for 4 layers in Uz direction
CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE SCOPE OF WORK
The following conclusions are drawn from the
present work:
1.The deflection for composite propeller blade
was found to be around 1.180mm for all layers
which is higher than that of aluminum propeller
i.e. 0.371mm.
2.Inter laminar shear stresses were calculated for
composite propeller by incorporating different num-
ber of layers viz. 4,8,12,16 and was found that the
percentage variation was about 4%,which shows
that there is strong bonding between the layers.
3.Eigen value analysis results showed that the nat-
ural frequencies of composite propeller were 5times
more than that of aluminum propeller, which indi-
cates that the operation range of frequency is higher
for composite propeller.
4.Harmonic analysis results for aluminum propel-
ler shows that the resonance occurs in the frequen-
cy range of 500 Hz in Ux, Uy, Uz directions, so the
propeller may be operated in frequency range below
500Hz.
5.Harmonic analysis results for composite propel-
ler shows that the resonance occurs in the frequen-
cy range of 2500Hz in Ux, 2500Hz in Uy, around
2500Hz in Uz directions, so the propeller may be
operated in frequency range below 2500Hz
Future scope of work:
1.The present work only consists of static, Eigen
value analysis and harmonic analysis, which can
be extended for transient and spectrum analysis in
case of both aluminum and composite materials.
2.There is also a scope of future work to be carried
out for different types of materials. For present pur-
pose only modeling and analysis of a propeller blade
is carried only for GFRP and CFRP materials.
3.CFD analysis based on ship sailing conditions is
to be performed to know the pressure distribution,
lift and drag
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Author
D.Ravikumar
Research Scholar, Department of Mechanical
Engineering,Vikas college of Engineering and
Technology,Nunna, Vijayawada rural,Krishna
(DIST),Andhrapradesh,India
`
K.Durga
Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical
Engineering,Vikas
college of Engineering and Technology,Nunna, Vi-
jayawadarural,Krishna(DIST),Andhrapradesh,India