Marine Propellers and Propulsion - A Book Review

Marine Propellers and Propulsion

This is a great book for propeller designers, marine engineers and naval architects. Its author is John Carlton. The first chapters deal with types of propulsion system from the conventional fixed pitch propellers to the controllable pitch propellers and the unconventional magnetohydrodynamic propulsion. When I read this book particularly on chapters related directly to propeller design, I found that the author does not present the whole BP delta diagrams of Troost or B-Series from Wageningen Model Basin. The B- series propellers are very popular due to their high propulsion efficiency and simplicity. Although there are now the latest or more advanced design such as the highly skewed propeller which significantly reduces the vibration and increase efficiency, the Troost series are still widely used around the world.

In chapter 12 on the Resistance and Propulsion, Mr. Carlton discusses the theoretical foundation of ship resistance which is mainly made up of frictional and wave resistance. A diagram which depicts the components of ship resistance is presented on page 289. Methods of calculating the resistance are given on pages 299 - 306 with detailed discussion is emphasized on Taylor's Method, Ayre's Method, Auf'm Keller, Harval, Standard Series Data, and Regression Based Methods (by Holtrop). The direct model test for determining the resistance of ship model in her relation to full scale ship is discussed on page 304.

For beginning level students of naval architecture, this book can be considered as complicated because it is lack of sample calculations. As an alternative, they can choose another title i.e.
The Design of Marine Screw Propellers
written by T.P. O'Brien as great reference for doing their semester assignment on ship propulsion particularly the propeller design.

All practicing propeller designers, marine engineers and naval architects must have this book in their library both as a reference and as a manual. This Marine Propellers and Propulsion book review was written by Charles Roring a freelance Naval Architect who lives in Manokwari of Papua