Wake adapted propellers have been studied to improve propeller performance behind a ship hull for a long time. In the beginning, they were designed by adjusting pitch distribution based on the optimum circulation distribution. In recent years, propeller shape optimization considering wake distribution at a propeller position or nteraction between a hull and a propeller is also studied. Most of these studies adopt a panel method based on potential flow for estimating propeller performance in order to save CPU time. There have been few optimization cases using CFD because CFD needs longer computational time than a panel method for obtaining performance. As CPU time becomes shorter than before due to the improved computer performance, CFD-based propeller shape optimization applications are increasing. However, these approaches generally do not consider design conditions such as rotational speed or horse power determined from the engine specifications.

The ultimate goal of the present study is to establish a propeller shape optimization method with practical design conditions. For the first step, a propeller shape optimization system using CFD is presented and the system is applied to the optimization in given design conditions with a uniform inflow. Performance of the optimized propeller is confirmed by a propeller open test. In the second stage, the propeller design optimization in a non-uniform wake field is carried out and the performance of the obtained design is verified by the self-propulsion test. Thus, the practical capability of the system is demonstrated.