Fixed RPM and increased frictional resistance

Vessel operation under fixed RPM

and increased frictional resistance
Why is there an increase in power demand?
Introduction
Vessels are often operated in one of three operational modes: a) under constant vessel speed or b) under constant
main engine power supply or c) under constant propeller revolution speed (fixed RPM). In the first case the main
engine adapts continuously to keep the vessels speed constant. In case of hull fouling and/or mechanical damage,
the frictional resistance increases and the main engine has to deliver more power to keep the desired speed. The
result is increased fuel consumption. In the second case, operation under fixed main engine power, the daily fuel
consumption will be constant independently of the state of the hull. In the third case, the fixed RPM mode, one
accepts slower speed and longer sailing periods to meet the same distance, only keeping the propeller revolution
speed constant. Intuitively, one assumes that also in this case the daily power demand and thereby the daily fuel
consumption should not increase. This is, however, not correct. The daily power demand increases also when
operating in fixed RPM mode.
It is the aim of the present document to explain why daily power demand and daily fuel consumption increase in
fixed RPM mode once hull resistance increases.

A fixed RPM case study

Figure 1a-c shows daily logged propeller revolution speed, Doppler speed and shaft power from a 23,000 NT
cargo ship during a one year period. The propeller revolution speed plot in figure 1a shows that the vessel
operates with approximately constant RPM. The speed values given in figure 1b exhibit a falling tendency,
which reflects the fact that the vessels speed drops, probably due to hull and/or propeller fouling and/or
mechanical damage. Most interestingly, however, the main engine has to deliver more and more shaft power to
the propeller to keep constant RPM, as can be seen from figure 1c.
This shows that the power demand and thereby the daily fuel consumption increases due to hull and/or propeller
performance loss also when a vessel is operated in fixed RPM mode and accepts slower steaming.
How to explain these findings?

120 21 13 000

110 20 12 000

11 000
av. speed [knots]

100 19
av. shaft power [kW]

10 000
av. RPM

90 18
9 000
80 17
8 000

70 16 7 000

60 15 6 000
Apr-07

Apr-08

Apr-07

Apr-08
Oct-07

Oct-08

Oct-07

Oct-08

Oct-07

Oct-08
Apr-07

Apr-08

a) b) c)
Figure 1 Average daily a) propeller revolution speed in RPM, b) Doppler speed in knots and c) shaft power of the main engine in kW over
a one-year period for a 23 000 NT cargo vessel operating in fixed RPM mode.

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Fixed RPM and increased frictional resistance

In order to understand this counterintuitive observation one needs to look a bit on how a propeller works and
how different factors influence its effectiveness. Furthermore one has to realize that an increase in hull resistance
e.g. due to fouling leads to a speed loss, meaning that the vessel does not achieve the same speed as with a clean
and intact hull for a given engine power.

How a propeller works

A propeller is a device that transforms rotational motion in a translational force, thrust. It consists of blades
which act very much in the same way as the wings of an airplane. In order to see this one can think of a propeller
blade as being made of numerous small sections of airplane wings, so called airfoils, see figure 2a. If an airfoil
moves through a static fluid or, equivalently, if a fluid flows towards a static airfoil with an angle of attack larger
than 0°, as illustrated in figure 2b, the airfoil creates a pressure increase on the side from which the fluid flows in
and a pressure decrease on its opposite side. It is this pressure difference which is at the heart of the work
mechanism of a propeller. To see this one has to remind that generally, once a solid object is placed in a fluid the
fluid exerts a pressure on the surfaces of the object. If the pressure distribution over the objects surface is
unbalanced the object feels a net force.1 In the case of the propeller blades moving through water, the induced
pressure difference leads to a force F as indicated in figure 2c. This net force can be seen as the result of two
mutually perpendicular forces, one component which is perpendicular to the flow called lift L and one
component which acts in the direction of the flow, called drag D.2 Taking all the lift forces of all airfoil segments
of all propeller blades together one ends up with the net forward pushing force of the propeller, the propeller
thrust. Taking all drag forces of all airfoil segments of all propeller blades together one ends up with a net force
pointing in the rotational direction of the propeller which is the propeller torque. 3 In order for the propeller to
turn the engine has to deliver the required power to compensate for the propeller torque and to deliver thrust.

Figure 2. a) A propeller blade can be seen as a collection of sections of airplane wings, so called airfoils. b) Flow of water on an airfoil at
an angle of attack larger than 0° leads to an increase in pressure on the side pointing towards the flow and a decrease on the side pointing
away from the flow. c) The pressure difference leads to a force F which can be divided in a lift component L and a drag component D. It is
the lift component which leads to the final forward thrust.

What determines now the amount of thrust produced by the propeller? It is the relative velocity and the angle of
attack with which the propeller blades meet the fluid as these two parameters determine how much pressure
difference is created.4
The relative velocity with which the propeller blade meets the fluid is the result of two components. One is the
rotational speed of the propeller; the faster the propeller rotates the faster seems the water to flow towards the
propeller. The second component is the movement of the entire propeller through the water, the forward velocity.

1
This is also what makes vessels float. The pressure from the water from below the hull is not compensated from
above as the upper part of the hull is not submerged. This leads to a net upwards force on the vessel
counteracting the gravitational force pulling the vessel down. If it wasn’t for this force, the buoyant force, no
vessel would float, it would sink to the ground.
2
This drag force discussed here should not be confounded with the drag of the hull.
3
It is slightly more complicated. The thrust of the propeller results from the sum of all forward components of
the lift minus the backwards components of the drag for all airfoil segments. The radial components of the lift
and the drag of all airfoil segments sum into the propeller torque.
4
A third parameter is the density of water, but we assume that it is constant.

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Fixed RPM and increased frictional resistance

If the propeller is not moving forward (or backwards), the speed with which the water encounters the propeller
blade is determined solely by the rotational speed of the propeller. In this case the angle of attack is identical to
the pitch angle, see figure 3b. If, however, the propeller rotates at the same rotational speed (constant RPM) but

Figure 3. One propeller blade seen from the side. a) The propeller blade is fixed to the propeller hub in a certain pitch angle. b) If the
propeller is not moving forward, then the rotational velocity of the propeller is identical to the resulting velocity with which water and
propeller blade meet. The angle of attack is in this case identical to the pitch angle. The rotation of the propeller leads to a resulting forward
propeller thrust (and torque). c) If, in addition, the propeller is moving forward the resulting relative velocity with which the propeller blade
meets the water and the angle of attack are changed. These changes lead to a change in overall propeller thrust (and torque).

exhibits in addition a forwards velocity, then both the resulting relative velocity with which water and propeller
meet and the angle of attack are changed as illustrated in figure 3c. This change in angle and speed of inflow has
as a consequence that the pressure difference induced by the propeller blades changes and thus, under the same
RPM, the propeller thrust is changed.

This is exactly the relation we were looking for: the propeller thrust and thereby the required shaft power
changes without the RPM changing. And this change is due to a change in the velocity with which the propeller
moves forward through the water.

How could it come to a change in forward velocity when the RPM is constant? A major factor would be a
change in the frictional resistance of the vessel as an increase in the frictional resistance means that the vessel is
withstanding a given thrust more and thereby losing speed for a given thrust. The forward velocity of the vessel
is thus modified by the hull state. The most obvious reason for increased frictional resistance is hull fouling
and/or mechanical damage of the hull.
This means that a change in frictional resistance leads to a change in vessel speed, which in turn leads to a
change in engine power demand also under constant RPM operation.

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Fixed RPM and increased frictional resistance

The exact dependency of the thrust and torque on the forward velocity are different and characteristic for every
propeller and can be found in the so called open-water diagram of a propeller.5 Figure 4 shows a typical open-
water diagram. Generally, four non-dimensional entities are used for the open-water characterization of a

Figure 4 Typical propeller diagram showing thrust coefficient KT, torque coefficient KQ and propeller open-water efficiency O over
advance coefficient J.
propeller. These are the thrust coefficient KT, the torque coefficient KQ, the propeller open-water efficiency O
and the advance coefficient J.
In the thrust and torque coefficients thrust T and torque Q are expressed as dimensionless functions of RPM n
Eq 2

Eq 3

by dividing by powers of the propeller diameter D, the density of water  and RPM n. The advance coefficient J
is a dimensionless entity which sets the propellers velocity through water VA in relation to the propeller RPM n
and the propeller diameter D.
 Eq 4

In figure 4 KT, KQ and O are displayed over J.6

It contains information which is valuable in the discussion of our problem at hand: For a given propeller
diameter and under constant RPM the advance coefficient J is a measure of the propellers velocity through water.
If the speed decreases the advance coefficient decreases and as can be seen in figure 4 KQ and KT increase.
What does this mean for the power required? In order to see this we need one more relation, that is, the relation
between the power delivered to the propeller and the torque coefficient.
Eq 5
Under fixed RPM n and decreasing advance speed VA, the torque coefficient KQ increases and as a consequence
the power delivered to the propeller PD has to increase as well.

Now, we can see the whole chain of argumentation. A change in speed through water at a given RPM changes
the angle of attack and the velocity with which the propeller blades meet the water. This changes the pressure
difference which the propeller blade creates before and after the propeller, and, thereby, the thrust and torque
produced by the propeller. The engine power required to overcome the propeller torque and deliver thrust is
therefore a function of the advance speed. The concrete form of this function can be found in figure 4, where one
sees that a decrease in speed of advance leads to an increase in power demand. The decrease in vessel speed as a
consequence of increased frictional resistance thus leads to an increase in engine power demand under constant
RPM operation.

5
Open water means that the propeller is tested in open water, without a hull.
6
The propeller open-water efficiency O is equivalent the ratio of KT to KQ multiplied by the advance coefficient
J divided by 2.

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Fixed RPM and increased frictional resistance

Andreas Krapp, PhD

Senior Analyst, Hull Performance Solutions, Jotun

“That you could verify that this effect was so profound is very interesting, I actually thought it was more of academic
interest. The operators tend to specify reduced RPM in an effort to control fuel bill, not understanding that they then
are in the mercy of weather and fouling. To specify a consumption target would be more to the point.”
W. Reinertsen, Kristian Gerhard Jebsen Skipsrederi AS, Mai 2011

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