A Generalizable Method for the Numerical Prediction of Non-Cavitating Propeller Noise from Marine Vessels

Ships are the largest source underwater radiated noise, which threatens marine ecosystems. Propellers are typically the dominant source of the radiated noise. Thus, accurate predictive tools for noise emissions from marine propellers are of primary importance for the development of effective mitigation strategies. The numerical prediction of both cavitation- and vortex-induced noise requires detailed simulation of the unsteady turbulent structures in the wake, including the fluctuating component of pressure. Simultaneously, the solution needs to account for the interaction between the hull, the wake, and the propeller. Balancing the range of scales in simulations presents a formidable challenge. We present a methodology that uses one-way-coupled solution to increase fidelity of the simulation and to decrease the domain size, beginning with Reynolds-averaged simulation of the flow around an entire ship, and concluding with a detached eddy simulation of the propeller wake. Our methodology is sufficient to resolve the shed vortices at acoustically-relevant time scales using only the geometry and the operating conditions as inputs, while maintaining computational feasibility. The methodology is validated against fluctuating pressure measurements performed on a model-scale vessel