Feasibility Study of Flettner Rotor Propulsion Using Numerical Analysis

  Vipin Devaraj,  Jobin Raju

Viscous flow over a rotating cylinder and Magnus effect has been subject to rigorous experiments from the end of 19th century. The lift generated by the rotating cylinder is due to differential pressure gradient. This is explained along the lines of aerofoil lift theory. The phenomenon found its application onboard ships in the form of flettner rotor in the beginning of 20th century. But cheap fossil fuels and advanced technologies in power generation left behind the possibility of a greener and efficient way of propulsion concept. This paper is an attempt to highlight applicability of flettner rotor for marine use. The shipbuilding industry is sceptic to embrace new technologies and accommodate the greener possibilities. This paper devices a methodology to conduct feasibility study of flettner rotor propulsion in merchant vessels making use of Naval Architecture concepts and numerical analysis. Numerical analysis is done to obtain the performance of flettner rotor under certain conditions of wind and rotor speed.

Keywords- Flettner Rotor, STAR-CCM, Ansys, Thom disc, Cylinder, Spin Ratio

Unique Identification Number - IJEDR1704219
Page Number(s) - 1372-1378
Pubished in - Volume 5 | Issue 4 | December 2017
DOI (Digital Object Identifier) -    http://doi.one/10.8/ijedr.17491
Publisher - IJEDR (ISSN - 2321-9939)

  Vipin Devaraj,  Jobin Raju,   "Feasibility Study of Flettner Rotor Propulsion Using Numerical Analysis", International Journal of Engineering Development and Research (IJEDR), ISSN:2321-9939, Volume.5, Issue 4, pp.1372-1378, December 2017, Available at :http://www.ijedr.org/papers/IJEDR1704219.pdf