Rake and skew

Skew is the angle between the directrix and a line drawn through the shaft
centre line and the midchord point of a section at its non-dimensional
radius (x) in the projected (onto y-z plane) propeller outline

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1. Angles forward of the directrix, that is, in the direction of rotation, in the
projected outline are considered to be negative.
2. Propeller skew angle (θsp) is defined as the greatest angle, measured at
the shaft centre line, in the projected plane, which can be drawn
between lines passing from the shaft centre line through the mid-chord
position of any two sections.
3. Propeller skew are of two types: balanced and biased skew designs.
4. In balanced skew design, locus of the mid-chord line generally intersects
with the directrix at least twice inside the blade.
5. Biased skew design the mid-chord locus intersects with the directrix not
more than once; normally only in the inner sections.

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Rake
Propeller rake: generator line rake (iG) and skew induced rake (is).
6. The total rake of the section with respect to directrix (iT) is given by
𝑖𝑖 𝑇𝑇 (𝑟𝑟) = 𝑖𝑖𝑠𝑠 (𝑟𝑟) + 𝑖𝑖𝐺𝐺 (𝑟𝑟)
1. The generator line rake is measured in the
x–z-plane and is simply the distance AB
2. It is the distance, parallel to the x-axis, from
the directrix to the point where the helix of
the section at radius ‘r’ cuts the x–z-plane.

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1. Face: The side of a propeller blade which faces downstream during
ahead motion is called face or pressure side (when viewed from aft of a
ship to the bow the side of a propeller blade that is visible is called face
or pressure side).

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2. Back: The side of a propeller blade which faces the direction of ahead
motion is called back or suction side (when viewed from aft of a ship to
the bow the unseen side of a propeller blade is called back or suction
side).
3. Leading Edge: When the propeller is rotating, the edge piercing water is
called leading edge.
4. Trailing Edge: When the propeller is rotating the edge trailing the
leading edge is called trailing edge.

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Slip Ratio
5. If the propeller works in a solid medium, i.e. if the water which the
propeller “screws” itself through does not yield (i.e. if the water did not
accelerate aft), the propeller will move forward at a speed of 𝑉𝑉 = 𝑝𝑝 ×
𝑛𝑛, 𝑤𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒 𝑛𝑛(𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟) is the propeller’s rate of revolution.
6. In a corkscrew the cork is a solid material, the slip is zero, the cork screw
always moves forward at a speed of 𝑉𝑉 = 𝑝𝑝 × 𝑛𝑛.
7. Since water yields, the propeller’s apparent speed forward decreases.
8. Apparent slip can thus be expressed as 𝑝𝑝 × 𝑛𝑛 – 𝑉𝑉.
9. The apparent slip ratio SA, which is non-dimensional, is defined as:
𝑝𝑝 × 𝑛𝑛 – 𝑉𝑉 𝑉𝑉
𝑆𝑆𝐴𝐴 = =1−
𝑝𝑝 × 𝑛𝑛 𝑝𝑝 × 𝑛𝑛
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10. The real slip ratio SR, which gives a truer function of the propeller
𝑝𝑝 × 𝑛𝑛 −𝑉𝑉𝐴𝐴 𝑉𝑉
function, is:𝑆𝑆𝑅𝑅 = =1− Where VA is the velocity at the
𝑝𝑝 × 𝑛𝑛 𝑝𝑝 × 𝑛𝑛

propeller plane.

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Propeller outlines and area
1. Blade width distribution calculations is always wrt cavitation
2. Later it is necessary to fair them into a blade outline.
3. This can either be done by conventional draughting techniques or by
the fitting of a suitable mathematical expression.
4. One such expression which gives good results is
𝑐𝑐
= 𝐾𝐾0 (1 − 𝑥𝑥)1/2 + 𝐾𝐾1 + 𝐾𝐾2 (1 − 𝑥𝑥) + 𝐾𝐾3 (1 − 𝑥𝑥)2
𝐷𝐷
+ 𝐾𝐾4 (1 − 𝑥𝑥)3 + 𝐾𝐾5 (1 − 𝑥𝑥)4
where x is the non-dimensional radius and 𝐾𝐾𝑛𝑛 , (n=0, 1, . . . , 5) are
coefficients.

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5. There are four basic outlines in general use currently which describe
the propeller blade shape:
a. the projected outline,
b. the developed outline,
c. the expanded outline,
d. the swept outline.

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The projected outline is the view of the propeller blade that is actually
seen when the propeller is viewed along the shaft centre line, i.e., normal to
the y–z plane when looking forward.

In this view the helical sections are

defined in their appropriate pitch angles
and the sections are seen to lie along
circular arcs whose centre is the shaft axis.

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Figure 11 Outline definition

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6. Projected area Ap is given by
𝑅𝑅

𝐴𝐴𝑝𝑝 = 𝑍𝑍 �(𝜃𝜃𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇 − 𝜃𝜃𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿 )𝑟𝑟 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑

𝑟𝑟ℎ

where the same sign convention applies for θ as in the case of the skew
angle and Z is the number of blades.
7. Projected area is of little interest today.

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The developed outline
1. It is related to the projected outline in so far as it is a helically based
view, but the pitch of each section has been reduced to zero; that is the
sections all lie in the thwart-ship plane.
2. The intersection of the blade with the axial cylinder is rotated along
the blade reference line into a plane parallel to the propeller.
3. The amount of rotation is equal to the pitch angle at every radius.
4. This view is used to give an appreciation of the true form of the blade
and the distribution of chord lengths.

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1. Approximation for the developed
area 𝐴𝐴𝐷𝐷 is 𝐴𝐴𝐷𝐷 ≃ 𝐴𝐴𝐸𝐸 where 𝐴𝐴𝐸𝐸 is the
expanded area of the blade.
2. Burrill’s expression for non-skewed
forms, is
𝐴𝐴𝑝𝑝
𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴 ≃
(1.067 − 0.229𝑝𝑝/𝐷𝐷)
The developed area is greater than the
projected area and slightly less than the
expanded area.

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The expanded outline
1. It is not really an outline in any true geometric sense at all.
2. It is obtained by plotting the chord lengths at their correct radial
stations about the directrix
3. The pitch angle of each section is reduced to zero.
4. The expanded area is the most simple and most normally quoted, and
is given by the relationship:
𝑅𝑅

𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴 = 𝑍𝑍 � 𝑐𝑐 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑
𝑟𝑟ℎ

5. In order to calculate this area it is sufficient for most purposes to use a

Simpson’s procedure with 11 ordinates

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Figure 12 Evaluation of expanded area

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Blade area ratio
It is simply the blade area, either the projected, developed or expanded
depending on the context, divided by the propeller disc area Ao:
𝐴𝐴𝑝𝑝 4𝐴𝐴𝑝𝑝
=
𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴 𝜋𝜋𝐷𝐷 2
𝐴𝐴𝐷𝐷 4𝐴𝐴𝐷𝐷
=
𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴 𝜋𝜋𝐷𝐷 2
𝐴𝐴𝐷𝐷 4𝐴𝐴𝐸𝐸
=
𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴 𝜋𝜋𝐷𝐷 2

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1. In each of the areas discussed so far the blade has been represented by
a lamina of zero thickness.
2. The true surface area of the blade will need to take account of the blade
thickness and the surface profile on the suction and pressure faces
3. These will be different in all cases except the ‘flat plate’ blades found
in applications like controllable pitch transverse propulsion units.

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