Investigation of air ingress from a passive air lubrication system on ship propeller propulsive characteristics

Hitchmough, D ORCID: 0009-0008-5474-7149, Spiteri, A, Blanco-Davis, E ORCID: 0000-0001-8080-4997, Shagar, V ORCID: 0000-0001-7933-0958, Yuksel, O ORCID: 0000-0002-5728-5866 and Wang, J ORCID: 0000-0003-4646-9106 (2025) Investigation of air ingress from a passive air lubrication system on ship propeller propulsive characteristics. In: Proceedings of the First International Symposium on Air Lubrication Technologies - SALT'25 16 - 17 June 2025, Trondheim, Norway . (1st International Symposium on Air Lubrication Technologies (SALT’25), 16th - 17th Jun 2025, Trondheim, Norway).

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Abstract

This work considered the potential impact of air ingress resulting from using a Passive Air Lubrication (PALS) System upon ship propeller characteristics. The PALS system introduces air into a vessel's near-wall region, reducing skin friction. The reduction in skin friction can improve fuel consumption and emissions generation. Air lubrication is considered to be one of the most promising decarbonisation technologies currently available for the maritime industry. However, the potential impact of air ingress on propulsive characteristics (thrust and torque coefficient) is poorly understood. Should air ingress significantly affect the propulsive characteristics, this must be given appropriate consideration within the overall business case for the technology. This may require design and operational changes or impact the general uptake in operator use of the technology. This report presents the findings of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations, which have been carried out to investigate the impact of air ingress on the propeller. As the simulations are created based on the operation of the PALS (a venturi system), the air is introduced as a mixture of air and water.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Subjects:	T Technology > TC Hydraulic engineering. Ocean engineering V Naval Science > VM Naval architecture. Shipbuilding. Marine engineering
Divisions:	Engineering
Publisher:	SALT, smp chair committee
Date of acceptance:	1 May 2025
Date of first compliant Open Access:	8 January 2026
Date Deposited:	08 Jan 2026 08:16
Last Modified:	08 Jan 2026 08:16
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/27782

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