Surface piercing boat propeller (6 blades)
ROLLA Twin Disc

Submerged Propellers are designed with a computer panel code method allowing the entire 3-D study and optimization of the geometry. To properly interface the propeller with its intended application the hull lines of any design of particular importance can be preliminarily analyzed to predict resistance, trim and wake field at the propeller disc. Once the velocity field on the propeller has been computed, it is used as "inflow" for the design of the propeller with the panel method and CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamic) analysis.

Surface piercing propellers
At present Rolla is developing an instrument that shows the details of the flow around the propeller. The blade is studied as it enters and exits the water, not only optimizing thrust, torque and secondary forces, but also minimizing the pressure fluctuations that cause vibrations and structural damage. back to top