Abstract | The knowledge of the effects of the wakes from Dynamic Positioning (DP) thrusters and the practical need to describe and predict their impact is fundamental in the assessment of design loading on slipstream-submerged equipment associated with offshore floating systems. In particular, with the increasing importance and application of DP thrusters in the offshore industry, the designer as well as the operator must have more information about the momentum in the wake from the thruster. This paper presents wake measurements from cavitation tunnel tests carried out on a ducted propeller model at the Italian Ship Model Basin (INSEAN), Rome, Italy. Through these experiments, DP thruster wake velocity components at different downstream axial planes were obtained experimentally using a Stereo Particle Image Velocimetry (SPIV) system in the INSEAN cavitation tunnel, up to 15 diameters downstream. These experiments were carried out with and without the nozzle in the bollard pull condition. This paper presents the results from these tests and discusses their importance for structures placed in the slipstream. |
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