Abstract: Numerical simulation of under-loading propeller cavitation and hydrodynamic thrust and torque coefficients were carried out by calculating the Case 2.3.3 of propeller model of Potsdam Propeller Test Case 2011. The research was done through discussion on different meshing patterns, meshing densities, cavitation parameters based on the homogeneous mixture flow model and the ZGB and Sauer cavitation models. It is shown that the correct calculation of thrust and torque coefficients on the under-loading condition needs finer meshing; the methods put forward here can predict correctly KT and KQ, tip vortex, cavities on both suction side and pressure side; the spiral mesh is a promising gridding method to succeed in capturing tip vortex cavitation; the nucleation site volume fraction and the bubble number density are two parameters which have important effects on the computed results.

Key words: propeller, tip vortex, tip vortex cavitation, numerical simulation