UNDERWATER.

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PR OPE4LER. V.IBRATIO1N I11E-ST S.
:.lJ; eI J:)t .è.1_;(f r fl
B
Prof. .L. C. BURRILL, M.Sc,. Ph.D., Member of council

AND

PROPELLER BLADE. VIBRATIONS.

B
W. L. HUGHES, B.E., B.Sc., Associate Member

:iii l--' Ut .0 ''1)[.!

1. .r i .-r1 ic

Papers read before the North East Coast Institution of

Engineers and Shipbuilders -in Newcastle upon Tyne
on the 11th February, 1949, with the discussioi and
correspondenèe upon them, and the Authors' replies
thereto. (Excerpt from the Institution Transactions,
Vol. 65).

NEWcAStLE UPON TYNE

PUBLISHED1 RY THE- INSTITUTION
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1949
 THE INSTITUTION IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE
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MADE AND PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN

Printed by Charles Birchall & Sons, Lcd., Liverpool, 2.

 UNDERWATER. PROPELLER VIBRATION 'IESTh
By Prof. L. C. BTJRRILL, M.Sc., PhD., Member of.ouncl
11th February, 1949
SyNopsis This.paper describes the results of some initial tests on the vibration
of a marine propeller under water. The vibration patterns obtained show that
the same modes of vibration occur in air and in water, and that the corresprnding
nodal patterns are also similar, although the transverse nodal lines across the
blades appear to be slightly nearer to the shaft axis for the tests in air than for
those in vater.
It is also shöwAihat while the effect of vdter damping an the resonant frequencies
in the lower modes of vibration is considerable, this effect diminishes for the
frequency in water
higher modes. The ratio frequency in air appears to increase in approxi-
mately linear manner as the number of nodes on each blade increases.
The results of some farther tests in air on a flat-plate model resembling this.
marine propeller, carried out by Mr. B; Grinstead of the Dc Havilland Engine
Co., Ltd., are also included, and throw some new light on the earlier tests with
full-size marine propellers in air. In discussing these latter, results, scime tentative.
conclusions are drawn regarding blade sensitivity to "singing ".
Introduction . .

teSts which are the subject of this short paper are a con-
tinuation of the work which was carried out by the Author on
THE the vibration of full-size marine propellers in air, atid which was
the subject of a paper entitled "Manne Propeller Blade Vibrations
read before this Institution in 1946 * The present tests have been
carned out for the British Shipbuilding Research Association and they
represent only the initial stages of a long-term research intQ the effect
of systematic changes in blade form on the frequencies and modes of
vibration of marine-propeller blades.
At the same time, these tests do answer some of the major questions raised
in the discussion of the previous paper, and as our knowledge of the effect
of water damping on the modes of vibration of propeller blades is so yew
small, it is hoped that the publication of these initial results will be of assistance
to investigators who may be engaged in attempting to obtain a mathematical
solution to the as yet obscure problCm of propeller '.' singing."
Testing Arrangements
The propeller chosen for these tests. was a four-bladed bronze propeller
designed for 450 b h p at approximately 500 r p m The thameter was
4 ft.4 in. and the blade surface 772 sq. ft. giving a disc-area tatio Of 0525.
The blades were approximately of elliptical shape and the blade sections of
aerofoil type Details of the blade design, pitch variation etc are shown in
Fig I the propeller being the same as that shown as propeller' M' in the
earlier paper;. .

* Vol. 62.
302 UNDERWATER PROPELLER VIBRATION TESTS

The instruments used in -carrying out these new tests were similRr to those
previously, employed for the tests lii air, excepting that the loudspeaker-type
vibrator was specially manufactured to work under water, and the pick-up
was also made watertight so that records of the blade vibrations could be taken
direct from the blades with the propeller under water.
For the-purpose of these tests, the propeller was set up in' the cenfre of a
tank 21 ft. square by 4 ft. deep which had been erected specially for carrying
out underwater tests of this kind, in the, Research Laboratory of the Naval
Architecture - Dept. at' King's College Newcastle upon Tyne. Two . heavy
timber baülks each 1 ft. square in section with a base made Of 2 in phnks,
were used to support the propeller. The propeller was seated on the forward
or larger end of the boss with the driving face of the blades uppermost, and.
ti vibrator was arranged.to stand on the same base as shown in Fig..2 which
shows the propeller in position in the tank This was the arrangement which
had been found to be most suitable, in the earlier tests, and was such that tle
experiments 'in air and the experiments in water could be carried out without
moving or disturbing the propeller, so that the conditions were exactly similar
for' both series of experiments, apart from the effect of water damping.
The tests in water proved .to be 'much more difficult to carry otit than the
tests' in air. In the' first place, it was' found to be rather more difficult to find
the' resonant frequencies and to, set, the' blades vibrating at resonance, and
secondly the mapping of the model patterns was a much more lengthy and
painstaking task. This was, in fact, done by marking the propeller blade
with a fairly close grid, and the observer in diving dress in the tank then had
to report the position of the point Of the 'pickup to another observer outside
the tank in crossing each line of the grid. The pick-up was then moved to and
frO along the particular line chosen,. and was' finally positioned so that the
Lissajou figure obtained was' horizontal in'each case. The several crossing,
points for tlie different lines of'the grid were then marked on a plan such as.
that shown in Fig. 3 and the nodal lines were plotted by joining the various
points as shown. ' '
'

The underwater pickup has worked satisfactorily throughout' the tess,

but unfortunately the underwater vibrator broke down after part of the tests
had been carried out as water had leaked into the body of the loudspeaker
Unit. 'It was' found that the rubber diaphragm protection for the top part'
of the instrument, which' could be inflated to prevent the ingress of water,,
had been entirely satisfactory, but water had unfOrtunately leaked in through-
the electrical connexions at the base of the vibrator. As a result, the: work
was' held up for a considerable time as the, coils had- to be rewound and the;
instrument had to be almost re-made before, it was satisfactory. Following
this experience, the vibrator has been examined frequently during the progress
of'the tests, and although there-is still a light leakage it can now be iatisfactorily
controlled
'When the initial'tests were carried out, the depth of water in the tank was,
varied, and experiments were made to,check the effect of the head' of Water
above the blades on the modes of vibrations and frequencies recorded. It
was, found that with a very small head of waler above the top of the boss the
existence. of, resonant vibrations could be observed - by the appearance of a
crOssed-wave pattern on the surface of the water, which was excited locally over
each of the 'four blade ekttemitiós. These1ocal wave áttems took tha form'
df'a'g±id,ofvCry finn'waves which occtipied.an area approximately 4 in. to 6'in.'
in diameter and the existence of such patterns was very sharply defined, the
tuning being. very.delicate anl sharp. At the same time, the 'intensity Of the.
soi.ind rose considerably, and -the propeller could be heard to be "singing"
quite clearly at the point of resonance. Later the depth of water over the blades'
Was increased 'the head being such' that these patterns could not be obse,rved;
 tJNDERWATER PROPELLER -VIBRATION TESTS 303

or could only be seen if the gain of the. amplifier was increased to a vely, high'
level,, considerably above the normal working value. It was found that tle
difference in the resonant frequencies was not sensitive to the head of water
above .the boss, and that the differences could not be observed within, the
accuracy of the oscillator setting. It was, however, felt that it was most
satisfactory to use the larger head of water so that the surface was not disturbed,
and the depth of water in the tank for the tests reported herein was about
40 in.,, the top of the' boss being about 12 in below the Surface. Ordinary tap
water was used at room temperature, ' and the mean head above the b1ad
surface would be about 18 in. It is. cOnsidered that this head was sufficient
to represent fully immersed conditions.

Testing Procedure
The vibrator- was first attached to the' 'tip of one of the blades, using a
universal ball-joint clip, and the whole range of input frequencies from about
20 cp.s. -uj to 2,000 -c.p.s. was slowly traversed with a view, to picking out the
resonant frequencies. As the frequency of the vibrator was increased, successive
modes of vibration were excited; and at resonance all blades were 'set freely
in vibration in each case. Each mode was then carefully studied to establish
the nodal pattern and the exact frequency at resonance. The resc nant vibrations
recorded were quite sharp and clearly defined, and the nOdal patterns were
'plotted by, traversing the pick-up across the blade opposite tQ that which had
the vibrator attached to it, this being the procedure which had been found
to be most satisfactory during the previous tests'. Many 'of the tests:.were
repeated several times to make sure that there was no possibility of error, and
'the repeat testswere, in fact,' 'satisfactory. ' At a later stage during'the experi-
ments the point of apphcation of the vibrator was moved to several points
on the trailing edgn Of the blade in' an attempt .to excite the torsional modes
more satisfactorily; but this did not have any effect oji the modes and frequencies
recorded, and the torsional modes in water have prOved vet)' difficult to excite.
The current for the moving coil of the vibrator was fed from the B.S.R.
Beat Frequency Oscillator, described 'in the earlier paper, through a power
amplifier which was capable of delivering about 50 watts. The power output
was very much greater than that required, to vibrate 'the blades without, over-
loading the oscillator, thus avoiding any possibility of. distortion.
The pick-up used was-of-- the-De -Havilland -piezo-electric acceleration type,
and in order to enable the nodal lines to be -identified clearly, thetime base
of the Mullard -E800' oscillograph -was-disconnected and-a' voltage' was-supplied
direct from the beat-frequency oscillator to. these deflecting, plates. The
pick-up was' then used to supply the vertical-deflecting plates with 'a 'voltage
corresponding to the blade vibrations by means of a suitable amplifier and
the resultant pattern shown on the screen 'of the oscillograph 'tepresented
these two voltages set at right angles to each other. Horizontal movements
of the spot therefore represented variations in the input energy to the propeller
blade wi-Ole vertical mOvements represented variationS in th' Output energy
corresponding to the movement of the propeller blade at the point of contact
of the pick-up. With ihe-propeller blades vibrating near true resonance;'- the
picture obtained in the' osdillograph .vas a cirCle or. an ellipse depending upon
the' relative phase displacement of the input and. output energies. ,1f a certain
input frequency were 'to have caused the blades. to vibrate at twice .thatfrequency,
the figure obtained would, of course, have ben a figure eight, and otler
Lissajou' figures would appear for higher harmonics, but in carrying out these
investigations such harmonically excited' modes were ignored and only directly
excited frequencies were studied. AU the patterns shown were obtained by
traversing the pick-up to and fro across the lines of no. vibration- (i.e., nodal
lines) in such a way that a fine ellipse-in the-dscillograph was caused to change
from' a position in which it sloped from righi to left to, a position in *hich- it
slped:., from left to, right,, the zero point,- or position of the nOdal line ax
304 UNDERWATER PROPELLER VIBRATION 'rESTS

resonance, being identified by the position of the pick-up for which the picture
was a straight horizontal line, representing input energy only with no output.
Under water, the position of the nodal lines at the blade edges was capable of
very accurate determination, but as these lines were followed into the central
and thicker root parts of the blade, they were sometimes rather difficult to
determine with great accuracy.
So far as the experiments carried out in air were concerned, it was found to
be very easy to excite all the flexural and torsional modes of vibration up to
the fifth mode of vibration with four nodes on the blade with the vibrator
located at a p dint near the blade tip. in water, however, it was found to be
very difficult to excite the torsional vibrations with the exciter placed near
the tip of the blade, and it was, therefore, necessary to move the exciter to
various positions on the trailing edge in order to obtain satisfactory records
of the torsional vibrations. Even so, it was found impossible to identify
clearly any torsional mode above the second mode. Curiously enough, the
pattern with the crossed nodes at the tip shown in Fig. 16 was found to be
readily excited both in air and in water.
Discussion of Results
Table 1 and Table 2 show the frequencies of the flexural and torsional
vibrations respectively. The frequencies in air are shown in column 2, while
those in water are shown in column 3, and column 4 shows the ratio between
- . . frequency in water
the water and air frequencies. It will be seen that the ratio -frequency in air
varies from P625 for the fundamental mode of vibration in flexure up to 98O
for the 5th mode, with 4 nodes on each blade,, and that this ratio varies in a
linear manner with the number of nodes. That is to say, the effect of water
damping on the resonant frequencies, although appreciable for the fundamental
or lower modes of vibration, disappeared almost entirely for the higher and
more complicated patterns. Figs. 3, 5, 7, 9, 14 and 16 represent the patterns
which were identified when the propeller was vibrated under water, and Figs.
4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 13, 15 and 17 show the nodal patterns for the modes of vibration
identified in air.
TABLE 1 .Flexural Vibrations
Frequency in c.p.s.
No. of FW/FA
Nodes In air In water

Fundamental 160 100 625

230 161 '70
2 460 375 '815
3 710 625 - 8
4 1,020 1,000 980

TABLE 2.Torsional Vibrations

Frequency in c.p.s.
No.of FW/FA
Nodes In air In water

400 265 662

2
3
670
840 -490
-
'732

It will be seen from these diagrams that the same modes of vibration were
identified both in air and in water, that the nodal patterns were generally
similar for both conditions, but that for the vibrations in air the position of
 LJNDERWAThR PROPELLEF. VIBRATIOI 'TESTS 05

the nodal lines, was closer ta the shaft centre-line. .than was the caiefoi the
corresponding vibrations in water. This . is true not. only of the .fle,iural
vibrations, but to a lesser degree in the. case of the torsional vibrations.. Figs.
-1 8-21 show the frequencies plotted- to a base of the number of nodes on the
blade for. both flexural and torsional vibrations. . Fig. 22 shows the comparison
between the flexural vibration frequencies in air and in water, from whichit will
be seen that the curve of frequencies plotted to a base of the number of nodes
follows the same general line both in ar and in water. This was not found
tQ be so fOr. the frequencies of the torsional modes........
it will be seen from- Fig. 20 that the curve 'for the tdrsiotiál frequencies
obtained in ar tends to bend towards the base for the third torsional mode
T.3 and would, therefore, most probably, have interse ted and crossed the
corresponding line for the flexural vibrations if it had been extended to a
higher torsional mode. This is a curious result, and raises the question Of
whether the frequency for T 3 is reliable On this pomt it can only be stated
at present that the pattern for T.3 shOwn in Fig. 13 was quite clear, and that
it is believed that the frequency of 840 c.p.s. is correct for this mode. In view
of this result, it is considered advisable to., investigate this matter further, as
it i important to determine' whether, 'in' fact the' curve drawn through. the.
frequencies of the torsional modes can intersect that drawn through the
frequencies of the flexural modes. Unfortunately, the higher torsional modes
are difficult to excite, and it may be necessary to test several propellers before
this point can be settled, and the conditions under which such an intersection
of these two curves is likely to occur can be established.
This is important in view of the possibility that interference between torsional
and fiexural modes may have some 'bearing, on the occurrence of singing.
,'Another point to note is the large difference between the air and water
frequencies for the cross-node patterns shown in Figs. 16 and. 17 respectively.
This difference is much greater than thet for the air 'and Water frequencies for
the flexural modes F.4 shown in Figs. 14 and 15 for which the water 'frequencies
are very similar. The mode of vibration in water shown in,Fig ,l 6: has been
checked a number of times by different observers. Fig. 1.7 has also been
checked several times, and so far as the experimental results are concerned,
it would appear that this targe difference between the air and water frequencies
of the cross-node patterns 'is correct..
This is difficult to understand, and no explanation can at present be given
for this result, other than a suggestion that the water damping for the quasi-
torsional motion of the cross-node pattern is much greater than that for the
straight-forward flexural motion in Fig. 4.' II
It inay be that Fig. 16 does not correctly correspond with Fig. 17. in' view
of the rather different disposition of the inner nodes, or that the combinatioi
between the lateral Or torsional and fiexural motions which this mode involves
is different in air and 'in water. , '. . . .- .

In this' connexion, the Author has very kindly been granted permissibn by
Jr. W. Ker Wilson ofThe Dc Havilland Engine' Co., Ltd., to include as Fig. 23
the results 'of-some interesting tests carried out by Mr. B. Grinstead with a
small model of a flat-plate of effiptical shape which closely resembles the
propeller blades under discussion. .
:

'in these iests, the plate 'was flimly seOued at the root and th 'various modOs
of vibration in air were excited by bowing with the aid of a rotating dis,
the corresponding nodes' being established by means of sand patterns.' The
resonant frequencies Obtained are, of course, much' highCr han thOse for' the
full-size propeller, and would require to be corrected 'by means Of a 'scale
factor in order to rnake'a direct .oniparisOn. .. '
306 UNDERWATER PROPELLER VIRRAflON TESTS

The point of major interest in these tests is that they establish the nature
of the cross-node patterns which were obtained in the Author's earlier work
with full-size propellers, and which were then not clearly understood. For
example, the patterns with frequencies of 2,155 c.p.s. and 2,418 c.p.s., respec-
tively, in this plate model series, are caused by a combination between the
pattern 0/3 at 2,202 c.p.s. with another pattern having two-nodes running
along the length of the blade, rather like that shown for 1,365 c.p.s.
In this Fig. 23, the flexural modes are shown as 0/0, 0/1, 0/2, etc., and the
torsional modes are shown as 1/0, 1/1, 1/2, etc., and the true nodes with two
nodes along the length of the blade would have been 2/0, 2/1, 2/2, etc.
It will be seen that the pure modes 2/1, 2/2, etc., do not appear, owing to the
closeness between their natural frequencies and those of the flexural modes
0/3 and 0/4. What does happen, in fact, is that as the exciting frequency is
increased, the modes for 2,155 c.p.s., 2,202 c.p.s. and 2,418 c.p.s., for example,
succeed each other very rapidly, and are sometimes difficult to maintain
separately.
This phenomenon had in fact been observed by the Author in carrying out
the earlier tests on propellers such as propellers F to M, and it was mentiojed
that these modes, then designated as cross-modes and diaphragm-modes
respectively, were found to be the most noisy, and were also very likely modes
for exciting sustained vibrations. There is evidence that such modes of
vibration have occurred in a number of cases of singing propellers (see p. 255
of earlier paper) and this would suggest that one possible cause of sensitivity
to singing would be the possibility of interference between what may be termed
the secondary lateral modes with two longitudinal nodes and the flexural
modes with several transverse nodes.. This is not inconsistent with previous
conclusions, in that it seems possible that apart from any hydrodynamic causes
sensitivity to singing may be due to
Torsional-flexural coupling due to lack of mass-balance about a
central torsional axis.
interference between torsional and flexural modes, leading to mixed
patterns.
interference between ihe secondary lateral flexural modes, and the
ifexural modes with several transverse nodes.

-. . .: Conclusions
The work described in this paper shows that for the propeller tested the
effect of water damping was to decrease the natural frequencies of both the
lower flexural and torsional modes very considerably, but that this effect
diminished for the higher modes of vibration. It also indicates that similar
patterns are produced in air and in water, but that the nodal lines are somewhat
closer to the shaft axis for the vibrations in air than for the corresponding
modes in water. Consideration of the work carried out by Mr. B. Grinstead,
in conjunction with the earlier work on full-size propellers, indicates that
cross-modes and diaphragm modes may be present if the frequencies for the
secondary lateral modes are similar in value to those for the natural flexural
modes. - -

Acknowledgments . . -

The Author is very greatly indebted to Mr. A. G. Boggis, B.Sc., (Eng.) and
Mr. W.Vasey of the Naval Architecture Department, King's College, for their very
painstaking and careful work in carrying out these underwater vibration
tests in very difficult conditions. He also wishes to thank the Manganese
Bronze and Brass Co., Ltd., for their considerable assistance in lending some
of the equipment for these tests to the Naval Architecture Department, and for
kindly providing the propeller on which these tests were made.
 -1
rr

DIAMETER 433ft.
PITCHvarying, 294ft;to 235ft.
PITCHmean 282ft.
SUPFACE 7 72sq. ft.
BLADES 4 RH. & 4Lltt

Fig. 1Details of Propeller tested in Air and in Water

308 UNDERWATER PROPELLER VIBRATION TESTS

Fig. 2Propeller and Vibrator in the Tank

\
-\
--i' I I
-.-_.t-.-j..__L
I -

--'\ \ I
/
/

Fig. 3Fl in Water. Fig. 4Fl in Air.

Frequency 161 cp.s. Frequency 230 c.p.s.
 U24DERWATER PROPFLLE VIBRATION TESIS 309

Fig. 5T1 in Water. Fig. 6TI In Air.

Frequency 265 c.p.s. Frequency 400 c.p.s. -

Fig. 7F2 in Water. Fig. 8F2 In Air.

Frequency 375 c.p.s. Frequency 460 c.p.s.

Fig. 9fl in Water. Fig. 1OT2 In Air.

Frequency 490 c.p.a. Frequency 690 c.p.a.
310 UNDERWATER PROPELLER VIBEATION TESTS

Fig. i1F3 in Water. Fig. 12F3 in Air.

Frequency 625 c.p.s. Frequency 710 c.p.s.

Fig. I 3T3 in Air. Frequency 840 c_p.s.

1 not obtained in Water

Fig. 14F4 in Water. Fig. 15F4 in Air.

Frequency 1,000 c.p.s. Frequency 1,020 c.p.s.
 UNDERWATER PROPELLER VIBP.ATION TESTS 311

Fig. 16Cross-Node in Water. Fig. 17Cross-Node in- Air.

Frequency 1,060 c.p.s. Frequency 1,275 c.p.s.

1600

Io ------
C)
800'-
ti fr

I-
400 - Ha

2OO.
0. I. 2. 3. 4.
NUMBER OF NODES

Fig. 1 8Flexural Vibrations in Air

RR
 1600
1600
In

-- I:
1400

1200 1200

I0

eoo
U-

[600

oö
P -
200

0
0. 2. 3. 4. 5.
0. I. 2. 3.
PIUMBER OF NODES. NUMBER OF NODES

Fig. 1 9Flexural Vibrations in Ware, Fig. 20iorsional Vibrations in Air

 1600 600

.400 1400 -

1200 ZOO

bOO-
hE b000-

800 800
U

600 6OO
0
w
UI
IL

400 400

200 200
-
0. 2. 3. 4. S. 0. 2. 3.
NUMBER OF NODES NUMBER OF NODES

Fig. 21Torsional Vibrations in Water Fig. 22Flexural Vibrations in Air and in Wafer
314 UNDERWATER PROPELLER VIBRATION TESTh

249 i/o 415 o/l 889 i/I 1135 c'2(+t) os 2/0(-0/2)

1819 /2 2155 2J1.0/3 2202 0/3 2418 2/1-013 3o09 1/3

4000 2/i,
- 0/Ti:

3000

r;4 2fI21
W4 "22P.
I2°0c

1000 !:pl5
0/I
0
0 2 3 4-

NUMBER OF NODAL LINES 'n

Fig. 23Flat Plate Model Test Results
 PROPELLER : BLADE VIBRATIONS
By W. L. HUGHES, BE., B$c., Associate Member

11th February,.1949
SYNoPSIS :The paper describs experiments carried. out on a series of model
propeller blades in order to investigate, their behaviour when vibrated at different
freqzthncies by eleciro-magnetic methods. The experimental apparatus is described
Vibration patterns are given for excitation both in air and in water,, including
specimen diagrams showing the amplitude of vibration at different points of the
blade surface. The various resoAant frequencies are plotted as curves to a base
of mean width ratio of blade
Damping of vibrations is discussed, and typical response curves are inclithed.
Attention is drawn to the surprising effect on damping of the presence of small
air bubbles on the surface of the blade.
1. Broad Outline of Work
tests to be described in this paper have been. carried out in
the Engineering Laboratory of the University of Oxford as part
THE
of a programme of work for a research degree. Previously
published investigations on the same subject . have been performed,
in the main, on isolated propellers or blades bearing little relation to
each other, such work often being done in support of some particular
theory of the nature and causes of . "singing". Coming to the subject
"with an entirely open mind, it was considered that it, would .be of value
to conduct a systematic series.of experiments on a set of related blades
in which one factor at a time was variedin this case. blade outline
and to follow the changes that occurred in resonant frequencies and
nodal patterns. Thus, ultimately, it should be possible to plot charts
of resonant frequency for the type of bla4e under review, similar to'
those widely used in other aspects of propeller design. The aim was
not to discover (jious hope') the cause of "singmg", but to make some
contribution to the ever-growing fund of knowledge of the behaviour
of vibrating blades. .

Two blades. have been used, of identical outline and section, one being flat
'and the other having a pitch ratio of unity. Side by side with the experimental
work, frequency calculations were perforthed, the results being checked by
experiment on the flat blade. Such calculations even for simple modes are
extremely tedious and laboriotis, and of, doubtful practical value, and the,
Author is firmly convinced that the only practicable method of investigating'
vibratiOnal modes is by experiment. For systematic experiments it would.
appear that work on model scale is the best solution from the point of view
of cost and eguiprnent required. The full-scale 'patterns, are geometrically
cimibr to thoseof model, while the frequencies are those of the model divided.
by the lineaz. scale ratio. In this work, models of single blades of a built-up
propeller have been used, results being obtained both in air and under water.
In addition to the customary nodal patterns, contours of amplitude of ''ibration
have, also been plotted for a large. number of cases.
In so far as the, question of singing is concerned, this paper deals exclusively
with the so-called bell aspect under the artifical conditions of non-rotation
and still' watet.. The " clapper" aspect does not enter.

NN
274 PROPFT 'JR BLADE VIBRATIONS

2. Description of Apparatus
(A) Blades
Fig. I depicts the blades used. They were cast an4 dressed by Messrs.
J. Stone and Sons, Deptford, to whom the Author and the department are
greatly indebted for the generous gift of the blades. They are of manganese
bronze, for which the density is 3O lb. /cu. in. and the modulus of elasticity
(E) l34 x 100 lb./sq. in. It will be seen that the blade outline is symmetrical,
and it is in fact given by the equation x = A (y+b) (1 5y)r, which gives outlines
fairly representative of practical designs. Circular-backed sections and flat
driving face, with linear thickness taper to the tip, were adopted to simplify
the frequency calculations, as well as for ease in manufacture. For the pitched
blade, a regular series was formed by progressively cutting away the outer
parts of the blade and reshaping the sections, keeping the centre-line thickness
unaltered.
Table 1 gives range of disc-area ratios covered by series:
TABLE 1
Blade .. A B C
M.W.R. .. 42 29 2l
D.A.R. 85 59 42
4 blades..
D.A.R ..
3 blades..
4 .44 32

Mounting
The blades were mounted horizontally on the side of heavy concrete block,
being drawn up hard by four in. bolts on to a mild-steel face plate cast into
the side of the block. As the heaviest blade weighed 40 lb. while the weight
of the block was about 500 lb., it was considered that the blade thus mounted
was fixed rigidly at the root. This was checked by the addition of several
50 lb. weights to the block, which caused no apparent alteration in either
resonant frequencies or nodal patterns.
For vibrating under water, the blade projected through the side of a tank,
the centre-line of the blade being 6 in. below the surface and 14 in. above the
tank bottom, with a minimum clearance all round of 7 in. on the largest blade.
The tank itself was supported on wooden baulks, and was nowhere in contact
with either block or blade, the joint between blade palm and tank side being
made watertight with Bostik.
Excitation
Power for the excitation of the blade was supplied by a B.S.R. Type L.O.
800A beat-frequency oscillator, with a frequency range of from 0-25,000 cycles.
By further sub-division of the existing low-frequency scale it was easily possible
to read changes of frequency to one cycle per second. The instrument has
a very slight frequency drift which is unimportant except in cases where the
resonance peak is very sharp, and even here the difcuIty is easily overcome.
As singing seems rarely to have been experienced with a frequency above
300 cycles per second, in this work the upper limit was taken at 3,000 cycles per
second in air, i.e., 400 cycles per second on full scale with a scale ratio of 75
to I (corresponding with a built-up screw diameter of 20 ft. 6 in.) or 500 cycles
per second with 6 : I scale ratio (16 ft. 6 in. diameter screw). Even when these
frequencies are lowered by the presence of water, it is considered that they
cover the modes most likely to be associated with singing in practice.
The output from the oscillator was used to actuate a small telephone earpiece
magnet which acted on a tiny piece of soft iron soldered on to the surface of
the blade. In the normal telephonic use of such a magnet its permanent field
is much stronger than that due to the exciting current, resulting in practically
pure sinoidal forces on the diaphragm. In the present application, however,
 PROPELLER BLADE VIBRATIONS 275

the exciting currents were, abnormally large, leading to the introduction of

liarmonics in the force dnving the blade, and often producing vibration patterns
whose frequencies were two, three or four times the frequency of the oscillator,
in many cases superposed upon a stroiiger mode Of the same frequency -as
the oscillator. This was considered by no means undesirable, as it is extremely
unlikely that any disturbing factor in practice will be purely sinoidal in
character.
(D) Detect iOn -

Several different pick ups were used each havmg features which rendered
it more suitable for certain applications.
Location Of nodes. For this purpose, the commercial ROthermeif
Brush VP5 piezo-electrjc type pick-up was employed. This is an
extremely sensitive acceleration-type instrument, ideal for the abOve
puriiose, but,, by virtue of its comparatively large mass (8 oz.),
unsuitable for the measurement of amplitudes on small-scale work.
Measurement of amplitudes. Two'" home-made" pick-up's were
developed for this job, which demands that the added -tháSs due tO
the pick-up be so small that its application to the surface of the blade
does not appreciably disturb the natura,l frequency of vibration.
The first consisted simply of a telephone magnet, across the pole faces of
which was laid. a strip Of rubber to serve as a spring for the moving
element. This latter was a thin flat piece of soft irOn to which was
soldered a 2 in. length of stiff steel wire to act as a prod, the whole
assembly being held together by tubber bands.
In this instrument the mass of the moving parts was less than 1 g. and
it was found quite átisfactory fOr measuring amplitudes of vibration
in air.
The second pick-up, which was much more sensitive, consisted of an
ordinary telephone receiver with a prod attached normal to the surface
of the diaphragm. With the blade vibrating in air, it was found that
the sound waves caused vibration of the diaphragm, giving false signals.
However, with the blade immersed, most of the sound energy is reflected-
at the water surface, and this effect becomes negligible. This instrument
was thus employed for amplitude measurements of vibrations in water.
In this connexion it should be pointed out that the amplitude measurements.
were in general taken with the blade vibrating a few cycles Off actual resonance.
When the damping is very low, the response curve is vety steep at resonance
so that the addition of even a very small mass (i.e., pick-up), even though
altering the natural frequency by only one or two cycles; may cause an appreciable
diminution in amplitude. If, however, the readings are taken at a few cycles
off resonance, the response curve is much less steep and so the. effect of a small
change in frequency is greatly reduced, thereby allowing consistent and reliable
readings to be obtained The pattern of vibration remains, of course practically
identical with that which would be obtained actually at resonance
Amplification
In all cases the output e.rn.f. from the pick-up was fed to a cathode-ray
oscillograph, and its magnitude determined from the resulting pattern on the
screen When using the piezo-electric pick-up, a single tube was sufficient
but with the less sensitive types another tube was used m series with the first
to provide greater amplification. Under these circumstances, with gains of
'the order of 50,000, very careful screening of all leads was necessary, and in
addition, a high-pass filter was employed at thd input to the second tube to
reduce the 50-cycle hUm to a- ha±tuléss level.
Signals .

As m Burnil s previous work the oscillator voltage was applied to horizontal

plates and .the pick-tip voltage tO the vertical platin Of the-oscillograph, giving
276 PROPELLER BLADE VIBRATIONS

the familiar elliptical trace when the frequencies of vibration and excitation
are the' same. The sign of the slope of the major axis changes as the pick-up
crosses a nodal line due to the 180 degree change of phase of motion; On
the nodal line itself the trace should be a horizontal line, since the amplitude
of motion ought to be zero. 'More generally it is fotind to consist of a
horizontal effipse. The explanation lies in the fact that true nodes are only
possible in systems having no dampingin all practical systems some damping
exists, and under such conditions the nodal lines are replaced by lines of
minimum (but not zero) amplitude. By the same token, due to the phase shifts
between successive points along the body caused by the' presence of damping,
readings of amplitudes at different points do not give a true instantaneous
picture of the shape of the vibrating blade, as the various maxima occur at
different instants of time.
The occurrence of resonance could generally be detected easily enough by'
ear, but in all cases it was indicated by the rapid increase in the amplitude of
oscillograph signal as resonance was approached. A knowledge of some of
the fundamental combinations of Lissajous figures with different phase
differences was of great advantage in discriminating between pure resonances
and those in which. a fundamental mode was combined with or even obscured
by a mode of higher frequency.
Experimental Results
3.
Effect of Pitch on Frequency
The comparison of frequencies of flat and pitched blades has been made
only for the widest Outline. The effect of pitch is considerable only at low
frequencies, diminishing as the frequency is increased and the blade begins to
vibrate in the more intricate modes rather as a flat plate than as a twisted blade.
At such high frequencies the observed "pitched" frequency is generally one
oE two per cent. higher than that for the flat blade, but this is in all probability
due more to slight differences in thickness of the respective blades than to the
influence of pitch. At low frequencies the results are erratic and do not lend
- themselves to plotting, but Table 2 contains the data for some of the modes.
TABLE 2
Frequencies in Cyc!es per Second

In Air In Water
Vibration Mode . . -
Flat Pitched Ratio Fith Pitched Ratio
1st Flexural .. .. 152 165 108 120 128 l'07
1st Torsional .. 189 310 l64 125 200 160
Plate Type .. .. 344 395 115 240 280 l-i6
2nd Torsional .. 497 550' 1l0 360 395 ll0
3rd Torsional .. 755 805 107 570 605 l06
3 lobe .. .. 795 808 102 610 650 l06

It will, be seen that the effect is most marked for the first torsional mOde,
and comparatively small for the other types. The added mass due to water
is practially the same for both flat and pitched blades, as is evident from the
values iii columns 4 and 7.
Effeët. of Sharp Edge on Frequency
The edge of blade A was modified by filing off the radius frOm the back
to give a straight taper from a sharp edge to a line in. in from the edge all
round. It was found that this alteration raised the frequencies of all modes,
the difference being greatest at higher frequencies as shown in Fig. 2. In cases
where singing has been reported cured by a similar modification., it may well.
1'

PROPELLER BLADE' VIBRATIONS 277

be that the natuia1 frequency hàs been altered sufficiently -to remove it from
that of any synchronous disturbing force, quite apart from any -possible increase
in hydrodynarnic damping.
Effect of immersion in Water-on Frequency ; -

When a vibrating blade is immersed in water its apparent mass increases

due to the inertia of water set in motion by the blade This causes a reduction
in frequency which is illustrated graphically in Fig. 3, where the corresponding
frequencies in air and water are plotted for blades A, AB B and C By
"corresponding" frequencies of course is meant frequencies for which the
nodal pattern on the blade surface is the same.
The reduction in frequency is practically independent of blade outline, ad,
except for one or two cases, the plotted points cluster very closely about the
mean line drnwn through all of them. If we consider the blade at each- critical
frequency as a single degree of freedom system, the following relatioti holds:
Fróquency in air 5 Equivalent mass + added mass due to water
Frequency in Water. Equivalent mass 5
added mass
(I + fii- where 8
Equivalent mass
Frequency in air
Hence fi L Frequency m water j - -

The quantity fi is also p1otted -on Fig. 3, showing a marked decrease with
increasing frequency. This is in line with the fact that, as the blade surface
becomes divided up by more and more nodal lines, the virtual inertia of the
sUrrounding water is decreased due to the occurrence- of increased cross-flow
between adjacent areas which are moving out-of phase with each other. It
will be seen that a large change infl is necessary to produce a comparatively
small change in the ratio of frequencies in air and- water.
The above generalizations are drawn from consideration of the mean line
as drawn on Fig. 3. Little is known regarding the pressure and velocity field
in- a medium surrounding such a complex system as a many-noded blade, and
it is not surprising that some scatter shows up in the points as plotted. The
effect of water on the frequency is no doubt closely connected with the actual
vibration pattern, especially in the vicinity of the blade edge, where the cross-
flow referred to above will operate to an important degree. Thus, in individaal
cases, the actual reduction in frequency will depend upon the particular pattern,
and modes whose frequencies are widely spaced in air may fall much closer
together in water, and vice versa. Furthermore, some modes which occur
in' air are not excited under water, while others which are very weak in air
becomequite-strong in water. In view of these factors, it is considered desirable
that for results of practical interest vibrations should for the most part be
studied under water rather than iii air.
Blade Patterns
Figs. 4 to 8 show representative patterns obtained from each of the pitched
blades A, AB, B, BC and C. Blades A; B and C are as depicted in Fig. I,
while blade' AB has the outline of blade A on one side, and that-of blade B
on the other, thus representing in some degree an unsymmetrical blade with
the pdints of maximum thickness of sections on a radial straight line. Similarly
blade BC is a cross between blades B and C. In the interests of space some of
the modes have been omitted from the figures, but all the strong and easily
excited modes are included. These diagrams only depict that part of the -blade
clear of the fillet at the root, which accounts for the fact that the blade width
apparently varies at the' base. In actual fact all the forms have the same width
at the blade root, as illustrated in Fig. 1. - -
:
278 PROPELLER BLADE .vIBRArION5

In generl it will be Seen that the complexity of the nOdal pattern increase -
with frequency and with blade width At high frequencies, especially in the
wider blades, the pattern is characterized by numerous "lobes" round the
blade edge, which sometimes coalesce to give completely enclosed" diaphragms"
within the blade, surrounded by a flapping edge comparatively free from inter-
ruptions by nodal lines At the lower frequencies the modes of pure torsion
and pure flexure are easily distinguishable, but m the wider blades a third type
of flappmg motion occurs in which the leadmg and trailing edges move
in phase while the tip is 180 degrees out of phase with both In the un-
symmetrical blades, the torsional axis follows approximately the geoxtietrical
centi-e line. ..,.
As previOusly mentioned, the.excitation of the blades was such as to produce.
frequencies ofvibration which are multiples of the exciting frequency. This
means that as the exciting frequency is gradually raised resonances occur
at much closer intervals than indicated by the diagrams, it may be of interest
to foll&.v through the complete series of resonances for one blade, say blade C,
when excited at the point P marked in Fig. 8. Table 3 is actually an extract
from the log coverin the first exploration of the vibrations of this bae un4er
water.
TABLE 3
Blade ç excited under watEr at point P

Exciting
Frequency . Notes
c.p.s.

68 Mode 13.6 excitedIst overtone

136 Fundamental flexure
213 Mode 425 excitedIst overtone
230 Mode 458 excitedI st overtone
305 . Mode 915 excited-2nd overtone.
360 Mode 1080 superposed on Mode 425
370 Mode 740 superposed on MOde 425
425 Fundamental torsiOn: Very strong signal
458 Strong signal .

540 Mode 1080 excited

5 . Mode 1670 excited
725 Mode 1445 excited
740 "Dirty" signal. Contains sothe of Mode 2250
750 Mode 2250 excited
758 Mode 1520 excited "Dirty" signal
775 Mode 2320 excited
835 Mode 1670 excited
915 Very strong clear signal. Secondary torsion
1,080 Strong clear signal
1,125 Mode 2250 excited
1,160 Mode 2320 excited
1,260 Mode 2525 excited
1,445 Very strong signal. Diaphtagm mode
1,520 Strong signal. Some mixture qfMo.de 3020
1,670 Very strong
2,250 Very strong
2,320 Strong clear signal. Diaphragm mode
2,525 . Strong signal
30i 5 Intense ear-piercing whistle .

From this Table it is evidefit that, assuming the presence ofharmonics in

a sustained exciting disturbance, the frequency of such disturbance may have
any of a very large iumber Of values and still be such as to be capable of
exciting a resonant oscillation in the blade. Admittedly. the amplitudes of
 PROELL5R BLADE VIBRATiONS 279

the oieftoñe mOdes ar generally smaller than those of the fundamental -modes,
but their audible effect on the human ear is often much greater, since the lower
limit of audibility decreases rapidly as the frequency increases up to about
2000 cycles per second Considered in this light practically every propeller
should sing at some frequency or other if singing is due to the maintenance
of forced vibration by a sUstaitied exitãtiOh such as eddy-shedding. The
fact that thiS iS b nO means the ôãSe tendS to disëount the value of this theory.
The relative strengths of the various modes depend, of course, upon the
location of the excltmg point P. bemg greatest when P is near an antinode and
least when P is near the node of the mode under consideration Where P
is near an ant node of each of two modes, the frequency of one being almost
a simple multiple. of the other1 the resultant mode consists of a combination
of both modes, each of which can be traced by its own Lissajous figure in the
oscillograph signal. Such a case occurs above at 1,520 cycles per second,
where, at the nodes of mode 1,520 there is still some motion due to mode
3,015. The pure mode can generally be produced by exciting on a node of the
other mode, and all the patterns are plotted under conditions approximating
to this.
A "dirty" mode is one in which the nodal signal is not clear-cut, thus
indicating high damping, or one in which the signal shows the presence Of
harmonics.
The blade patterns have been numbered simply in ascending order of
frequency in air, e g Al A2 In general this gives ascending frequencies
under water, but in some cases, e.g., Cl and C2, the order is reversed, indicating
much greater added mass in the case of the primary torsional mode C2. The
patterns are mostly self-explanatory but attention may be directed to some
interesting features. -

In general the nodal lines in air and water correspond very closely.
The complexity of the patterns at higher frequencies indicates the
hopelessness of calculation as a method of investigation.
(iii) As a general rule the most noisy modes were torsional, e.g.,. A3,
A4, A7, AB3, AB9, B3, BC3, C2, C3, but no comparative measure.
ments of sound intensity were taken, judgment being purely, by ear.
The sound field near the blade is very complicated and the intensity
of noise from the blade varies as the ear is moved- from point to
point in the vicinity. The mpst distressing note of all was produced
by pattern Cl0.
(iv) SOme modes are shown which do.not correspond to the condition of
absolute fixity at the blade root, i.e., they do not have a node in
this vicinity. In practice, perfect rigidity Of the propeller boss can
never be attained, and so these modes are quite likely to appear.
v) Patterns 44 and A5 indicate two quite different patterns at practically
the same frequency in air, but here again the added mass for the
torsional mode is evidently greater, resulting in considerable separatioti
of the frequencies under water.
(vi) In some cases nodal lines under water appear as mirror images of
those in air as illustrated by pattern C2. The nodal line in this
case should obviously follow the blade centre-line: the fact that
it does not mdicates that in this condition the blade is very sensitive
to asymmetry, no doubt due to small errors in blade finish in one
case, and to small differences in added mass -of water in the other.
With the simplr tyoes of vibration it is eay to trace a partiàulàr mode from
blade to blade, but with the more complicated forms considerable judgment,
with a touch of imagination, is necessary. -This is no doubt due to the fact
that the difference in blade outline between successive blades is fairly great,
280 PROPELLER BLADE VIBRATIONS

and the process would be easier had the reductions been carried.out in smaller
steps. However, his considered that a reliable comparison can, be, made, and
Figs. 9 to Ii indicate the method of arriving at the curves of Fig. 12, which
showsthe variation of frequency of a particular mode plotted against mean width
ratiO, for blades vibrating under waters Broadly speaking, the ppints lie
on regular curves, all showing an increase of frequency with decrease of blade
width, ihe slope of the curves varying so that in two instances they cross. each
other. Some modes occur only in one or two of the blades and are shown
either as isolated points or as short curves. In general, however, it Will be
seen that 'the same types of vibration occur in all blades of the type under
consideration, and that. their frequencies vary regularly from blade to blade.
The critical frequencies are more widely spaced for the narrower blades, but
here it must be remembered that only resonances of the same frequency as
the exciting forces are plotted: if all resonances were included, as in Table 3,
the diagram would be much more congested.

Amplitude Contours
Contours of amplitude were plotted.for a large number of modes, typical
results being shown in Fig. 13. Comparative measurements in air and in
water failed to reveal any measurable difference in distributioti, thus confirming
that modes giving the same nodal pattern really are identical forms of vibration.
The figures given on the various diagrams of Fig. 13 bear no relation to the
relative, intensity of vibration between different frequencies. They merely
serve to give an approximate (see Section 2(F)) instantaneous picture of the
shape of the blade surface. At. the time. of writing, the actual values of
amplitude have not, been determined, but it is hoped' to do this in the near
future. Indications are that the maximum amplitudes are only of the order
of a few thousandths of an inch, although they are quite appreciable to the
touch. In determining these patterns, excitation and magnification were
simply adjusted to give approximately the same scale reading in each .case
at the point of maximum amplitude.
The most interesting feature of all such diagrams is the fact that, as the
frequency of vibration increases, the movement of the blade becomes relatively
more and more confined to a narrow strip round the edge of the blade. At
a given frequency the effect of an element of blade area as a source of sound is
proportional to the square of the amplitude, so that it may be said that, in
any but the simplest modes, practically all the sound energy comes from the
edges of the blade. Whether this fact is significant in.the matter of the intro-
duction of damping by sharpened blade edges remains as a subject for future
investigation.

Damping .

From many points of view the study of the damping associated with the
various modes of vibration is perhaps the most important aspect of research
in this subject. It seems inevitable, regardless of special precautions taken
in the design of blades, that the resulting form will have certain resonant
frequencies at which strong vibrations will be produced, given a suitable relation
between exciting forces and area of application to the blade. Even so, if
the damping is high, objectionable vibration will be reduced, whether it occurs
in the fOrm of an intermittently excited free vibration, or as a forced vibration
sustained by steady periodic exciting forces. In the first case,'the free vibrations
will be rapidly damped out, while in the second case the resonant amplitude
will be greatly dmunished. Perversely. enough, it has proved particularly
difficult to obtain reliable comparative, measurements of damping under
different conditions, due to the large number of variable quantities involved,
and the data here 'presented must 'be regarded as interim qualitative results
rather than hard and fast measurements of damping. Even so it is considered
thatthey may be of some interest.
 PROPELLER BLADE VIBRATLONS 281

The method of approach v'as the study of the response curve (amplitude p.
frequency) in the neighbourhood of resonance. Considering a simple single-
mass system under the action of a sinoidal exciting force and in the presence
of viscous damping, the equation of motion is
mi + cx + kx = P sin pa'
or
P.
x + 2yx + o2x = - sin pa', where 2y = - C
Wa =km-
The resultant steady-state forced vibration is given by x = b sin (pt - 0)
where the amplitude I
Prn
- [(22)2 + 42)]
Thus b is a function both of p, the exciting frequency, and of y, the damping
term, and Fig. 14 shows the general form of the response curves for such a
system.
If y is smallas it generally isthe maximum value of b occurs when
p = w, and is given by

i.e., the amplitude at resonance is inversely proportional to the damping

coefficient, which illustrates the value of high damping in preventing large
resonant vibrations.
Similarly, if the exciting- force suddenly ceases, the amplitude of free vibration
decays with time according to the equation
b = boeft
a decay which will be much more rapid the higher the value of y, i.e., of c.
Defining the logarithmic decrement (8) of the decay as the logarithm of the
ratio of the amplitudes of successive oscillations we have
8= where Jo natural frequency.
Now from the equation of the response curve it can be shown thai
iT
8
7=_j_
where f = the frequency difference between the two points a which the
amplitude is half the resonant amplitude at the natural frequency f. Thus 8,
and hence y and c, are directly proportional to the breadth at half height of the
response curve, which value can therefore be used as a measure of the damping
associated with any particular form of vibration.
In directly extending this analysis to the case of a continuous system with
an infinite number of degrees of freedom it is tacitly assumed that, in the
vicinity of each resonance, the blade behaves as an equivalent single-mass system,
and also that the associated damping is of viscous type, i.e., proportional to
velocity. While not strictly correct, it is considered that these assumptions
do not impair the value of the method.
With the ordinary form of underwater excitation, i.e., with the poles of the
magnet close to the soft iron strip on the blade surface, it was found impossible
to obtain consistent figures for B, the breadth at half height of the response
curve. This was due to the fact that the thin layer of water between the faces
presented an acoustic impedance to the passage of sound waves through the
water, which impedance reacted upon the motion of the blade itself; the effect
varying both with amplitude of vibration and with the distance of the pole
282 PROPELLER BLADE VIBRATIONS

faces from the blade. This impedance had bcith resistance and reactance
components which were revealed respectively by changes in the shape of response
curve and in the resonant frequency. Similarly, the pick-up itself affected the
motion, due both to its added mass and to its inherent damping, in different
degrees according to its point of application on the blade surface. Theáe
difficulties were na1ly overcome by soldering to the blade two stiff wires
bearing, at the upper end thin plates of soft iron. whith projected clear of the
water surface. Oii was usedfor excitation; and the other for detection, each
in association with a. magnet. ha air, the acoustical impedance mentioned
above is negligible, and with this arrangement consistent results were obtained
on blade C.
Fig. 15 shows typical curves obtained in this way, the corresponding values
of and 8 being given in the Table. Curves 2,4, 8 and 10 give reasonably
consistent values for 8 which are of the correct order when compared with
published results for brasS, where the values range from practically zero up
to 005 depending upon the previous history of the metal. Curves X and 6,
however, give 8 values some ten times as great. A likely explanation is that
modes X and 6 are of the type involving an antinode in the palm of the blade
which in turn demands some motion of the supporting concrete block. The
value of 8 for concrete is some thirty times that for brass, and under these
conditions it is probable that most of the damping measured occurs in the
concrete itself. On the other hand, modes 2, 4, 8. and 10 cause negligible
vibration in the block, and so give a much lower value for 8 In this connexion
it should be mentioned that when very heavy damping was artificially introduced
in the form of rubber strips between the palm of the blade and the face plate
on the block, the only modesof all those previously observedwhich appeared
when the blade was vibrated in air were 2, 4, 8 and 10, indicating an almost
complete absence of motion at this surface. All other modes were suppressed
or weakened so much as to be barely noticeable, indicating much greater
sensitivity to conditions of end fixing. From this it would seeth that purely
"reactionless" modes will persist in practice independent of conditions of
attachment of blade or bos, and thus may reasonably be expected to 6e of
major inportance from the point of view of singing. The similarity between
patterns 4, 8 and 10 and those found in actual singing propellers and illustrated
by Burrill in his paper ofMarch, 1946* will at once be apparent.
It should be noted that even in curves Xand 6 of Fig. 15 which are broadened
on account of higher damping, the frequency of an exciting force must lie
between very narrow limits to cause vibrations of amplitude greater than half
the resonant value. The frequency range is fifteen cycles per second, becoming
only two or three cycles per second on full scale, which decreases the likelihood
that sustained forced vibratiOn is the cause of singing.
The discussion so far has neglected two other obvious forms of energy
dissipation, namely, the production of eddies round the vibrating blade edge
and the radiation of energy through the surrounding medium in the form of
sound waves. Of the former it may-be said that its effect appears to be small,
although it may be accentuated by sharpening the blade edge and increasing
the athplitude of vibration above its present very small value. If time permits
it is hoped to extend the work along these lines. With regard to the latter, its
effect irigenoral will also be vety small, due to the fact that in all but the simplest
modes the blade is divided into many different areas, each vibrating out of
phase with its neighbour m addition, considermg both sides of' the blade each
of these areas is acting as a double source of sound, which means a much
smaller radiation of energy than would be the case were one side only of the
blade in contact with water. However, it does appear that this form of damping
is of great importance under certain special conditions, which will be discussed
in the following section
"Marine Propeller BladS Vibrations," N.E.C. Inst., Vol. 6L
 PROPELLER BLADE VIBRATIONS 283

(G) Effect of Air 'Bzthbles

The sensitivity of damping to small extraneous influences was demonstrated
by such crude tests as the slackenmg of bolts, the insertion of paper between
the surfaces of palm and face plate and the addition of non ngidly attached
mass at vanous pomts of the blade, all of which showed a marked increase
in damping. However, even with all conditions apparently identical, in the
early stage of the workconsistentrestilts ëöttldnOt be obtairiedfor the response
curves under water Ultimately this was found to be due to the presence of
minute bubbles of air which had come out of solution in the tp water as its
temperature rose to that of the room and had attached themselves to the under
surface of the blade. This was proved by the dc-oxidation of the water with
sodium sulphite, whereupon consistent results were obtained over long periods
of running, with complete absence of bubble formation. In view of the fact
that this phenomenon is a case where an apparently minute factor exercises
a large controlling effect, it was decided to investigate it further. Several
tests were run, in all of which the effect was qualitatively the same. The first
consisted merely of filling the tank with fresh tap water and plotting response
curves at half-hourly intervals. The initial value of 8 was P011, which increased
teadily to a value of 031 after two hours running, by which time about 10
per cent.. by area of the blade surface was coveted with tiny air bubbles, the
estimated diameter of these bubbles ranging from O1 mm. to 05 mm.
At the same:time the maximum signal obtainable at resonance fell from 40 mm.
initially to 14 mm. at the end of the run, i.e., in the inverse ratio of the damping
coefficient.
In another test the blade B was artificially covered yith bubbles of somewhat
larger size, rangng from 05 mm. to 3 mm. in diameter, and covering about
40 per cent. of the blade surface on both sides. Table 4 shows the effect on
some of the modes of vibration.
TABLE 4
Mode Blade free. of Bubbles Blade covered with Bubbles
Frequency c.p.s. 8 Fr'equency c.p.s. 6
B2 400 01'5 390. 067
B3 635. 0045 615
B4 932 0039 885
B5 1,045 0052 965 i23
As before, the maximum amplitude obtainable at resonance fell off roughly
in the inverse ratio of the damping and as was to be expected the nodal
pattern in all modes became much less definite, with considerable motion in
the "nodal " areas. At frequencies higher than that of mode B5 it was im-
nossible to excite any recognizable resonance.
In passing it may be mentioned that any possibility of temperature effects
coming in was ruled out by a ten-hour run with dc-aerated water of which the
temperature was raised by immersion heater from 17 degrees C. to 29 degrees C..
without any measurable effect on the value of 8.
The diminution in resonant frequency is greater than can be accounted for
merely by the increase m 8 and at present remains unexplained In the same
way, at the tithe of writing a satisfactory theory for the action of the bubbles
in causing such a tremendous increase in damping has not. been developed, but
it Is thought probable that the explanation hes m the fact that elementary
portions of the blade now tend to act as simple, instead of double, sources,
with a very great attendant increase in the radiation of sound. energy in the
surrounding water. As a rough illustration, a simple point source in an
infinite medium at a frequency of 1,000 cycles per second radiates about 1,6Q0
tithes as much energy as a double source of the sam&strength. Even though
the. actual system bears little relation to this theoEetical consideration, .yet
the illustration may serve to show the order of the quantities involved...
224 PROPELLER BLADE VIBRATIONS

Regardless of theoretical justification, the definite existence of the above

fact -leads to at least one important conclusion. Namly, that it is most
unhkely that singing will occur in a blade which is operating under cavltatmg
conditions especially if the cavitation is in the full-developed sheet form
m which the back of the blade is practically covered by a layer of air, or mpcture
of water vapour and air. This appears to be in line with general experience,
where severe cavitation often does occur wthout any trace of singing. Agaii,
it. is. very tempting to suggest that the presence or absence of such bubblçs in
blades in service may well have some bearing on the critical, or borderline,
aspect of singing. Thus two apparently identical blades may differ slightly
in smoothness of surface finish and in working conditions of wake, with the
result that in one slight cavitation is produced from which the other is entirely
free.. This is ratheran imaginative statement, and is conditional upon whether
the effect of air on damping is equally definite in the case otthe lower frequencies
associated with toll-scale propellers. In this connexion it would be most
interesting to investigate the effect on full-scale blades, since from the results
of the present experiments it is impossible to say whether the effect depends
on (a) frequency of. vibration or (b) complexity of blade pattern.
The effect of bubbles. moving across the surface of the bladeas would
occur in the practical case of cavitationwas checked by blowing air bubbles
from a rubber tube across the under surface of the blade. During their passage,
the amplitude was considerably decreased, rising again to its original value when
the last bubble had traversed the blade. It was not possible to obtain a damping
curve under these unsteady conditions, and so the reduction in amplitude may
be due to (a) increased demping or (b) the variation in mass distribution of the
blade as affected by the varying location of the moving bubbles. This variation
would be such as to prevent the building up of a steady resonant vibration of
considerable amplitude.
In any case, whether the bubbles are stationary or moving relative to the
blade, the effect is qualitatively the same: the amplitude of vibration is greatly
reduced.
4. Conclusion
In reviewing the results of the tests described herein, and in attempting to
deduce general principles therefrom, it must be borne in mind that the findings
are subject to several limitations. First, the work has been done on model
scale and, although the results for frequency, and vibration pattern may readily
be translated to full scale, the values for damping and the effect of air bubbles
really require verification by full-scale work. Secondly, the experiments were
performed in still fresh water, with the blade stationary, conditions far different
from actual operation of a marine propeller. Thirdly, the results refer only
to models of built-up screws under special conditions of fixing at the root.
Fourthly,, the tests have been carried out on a particular form of blade, which
is apparently infrequently associated with trouble due to singing. Bearing
these points in mind, it is still thought that the publication of the results may
interest thoseçoncerned, with the operation of marine propellers, and they are'
presented with this object in view.
There is a great temptation to venture to propound a theory for the occurrence
of singing propellers, but in view of the Author's complete lack of personal
experience, with such monsters it is considered wiser to refrain from so doing.
Purely on consideration of the results of this work,it would appear that :-
Singing is not caused by' sustained forced vibration.
"Reactionless" diaphragm-type modes may well be the means of
causing objectionable noise.:
The critical nature of singing is perhaps connected with the formation
of bubbles on the back of the blade under working conditions.
However, it may well be that the data presented here may assist others far
more competent to develop a more closelyknit explanation of this baffling
problem of singing..
 PROPELLER BLADE JBRATINS 285

BIBLIOGRAPHY
L. C. BURRILL. "Marine Propeller Blade Vibrations," N.E.C. Inst., Vol. 62 1946

W. J. DUNCAN. "Torsion and Torsional Oscillations of Blades," N.E.C. Inst.,

Vol. 54, 1938.

W. KERR, J. F. SHANNON and R. N. ARNOLD. "The Problems of the Singing

Propeller," last. Mech. E., VoJ. 144, 1940.

A. L. KIMBALL. "Vibration Problems," Jour. App. Mechs., March and September.

1941.

H. LAMB. "On the Vibrations of an Elastic Plate in Contact with Water," Froc,
Roy. Soc., A98, 1920.
 0.10

Fig. 1Model Blades

-uk--
Two blades, one flat and the other with P.R. = 1.0
Blade thickness fraction = 045
Material = Mn. Bronze Sections = Circular backed
 PROPELLER BLADE WBRAT1ONS 287

U
U

2000

V
a.

U
7
III

WOO 50 ii
bi
40
Iii
U. 30
INCASB IN
20
REçUENCY.
l0

0 1000 2000
FI4uRMcy WiT ROUNa -C.PS.
Fig. 2Effect of Sharp Edge
 288 PROPELLER BLADE VIBRATIO1

3000

1-
Bo
Bi..og AB
C BI.AOE
A

B
c

OF
A
4/'
/
rICC
_.6

A,

1000 2000 3000

P'RQUSr1CY IN AIR -C.PS.
Fig. 3Effect of Immersion
PROPELLER BLADE VIBRATIONS 289
AtO ASS Ai
Fig. 4(b)Blade A
 ABS A36
Fit. 5(a}B!ade AB
 A81.I ABIZ
Fig. 5(b)BladeAB
B'

B B5
Fig. 6(a)_LB1ade B
- - - - AIR
WAIER

010
Fig. 6(b)Blade B
SC6 8C7 BC8. cIo
Fig. - 7Blade BC
C2

C8. cq do
Fig 8BIade C
 Fig. 9Second Torsional Mode

Fig. IOThirdFlexural Mode with Two Lobes

Fig. 11Diaphragm Mode

20 25 .30 35
MEAN WIDTH RATIO
Fig. 1ZCorrespondng Modes (under water),
 C6
Fig. I 3Amplitude Contours (Blade Vibrating In Water)
 f °C- °' 41
I'looa PREQ..
T 005I
T
2 425 0028
II4T DAMPING 4 1445 0015 0027

8 2320 0013 0024

10 .3015 .002: P0038

40 x (080 0(20 022

6 167'o .0087 016

30
az
0
w

U
10
U
U)

8 10 S l4 +2 +6 4-to
a 4 6 -8 -6 -2 o
APPI.ieo FREQUENCY i- Nmu4l. FsgqusrlcY. MIsrUNINq IN C.P.S

Fig. 14Typical Response Curves (Single Mass System) Fig. 15Response CurvesBlade C (in Water)
 DISCUSSION ON "PROPELLER BLADE VIBRATIONS "
AND
"UNDERWATER PROPELLER VIBRATION TESTS "j.
Mr. HARRY HUNTER, O.E., Fellow:
In Professor Burrill's 1946 paper before
this institution on this subject4: we had
some valuable information on propeller
blade vibration in air and some people,
including myself rather suspected that when
vibrated in water quite different manners of.
vibration would be revealed. However, we
have to-night the first papers on systematic
underwater investigation and learn that
the manners of vibration in water are sub-
stantially the same as those in air, although
at different frequencies, and now can feel
reasonably confident that we know the
manner in which blades vibrate and that
the quite considerable amount of published
work on vibration in air is applicable.
We still have to recognize that these
underwater investigations do not entirely
reproduce working conditionsfor instance
in respect of thrust and centrifugal loading,
fast-moving water in contact with the
blades and perhaps most important, a very
different "clapper" or exciting force.
1 had personally expected the underwater
manners to be different from those "in
air" because, while propellers vibrated
in air give a reasonably harmonious noise,
yet in practical cases of noisy propellers, the
noiseas heard by the human ear in the
aft peak close to the propellercan be very
distressing and of a jarring and grating
nature with no relation to the noises-set up
by a propeller vibrating in air.
However, I note that Mr. Hughes
specially reports that pattern C.lO, i.e.
three nodal torsional (T3), p. 296, produced
the most distressing noise. Would he
class this as being of a jarring and grating
nature such as described on p. .203 of
"Singing Propellers" 19371 and can we
suspect that in serious cases of propeller-
noise vibration is occurring in some such
manner?
I do not think - that Professor Burrill
refers to the character of the noise emitted
in his. experiments, but perhaps he will
be good enough to comment on the fore-
going.
'Paper by Mr. W.L. Hughes, B.Sc. See p.273 ante.
fPaper by Prof. L. C. Burrjll. M.Sc., Ph.D.
See p. -301 ante.
" Marine Propeller Blade Vibrations: Full
Scale Tests," Vol. 62.
§N.E.C. Jnst.,Vol. 53.
10
Incidentally, the above mentioned T3
manner could not be excited, underwater,
in Professor Burrill's propelles--possibly
the aerofoil sections he used are not so
responsive in this particular manner or
the very different blade-root conditions
may have some effect. -
In Professor Burriil's 1946 paper the
question of root conditions for a solid
propeller received some attention both 'in
the - paper and in the discussion and the
author referred to the inteqtion of carrying
out experiments with a shaft fitted to the
propeller but I do not think this has yet
been done. On this question I was
interested to read in a recent Report
prepared by the U.S. Naval Technical
Mission in Europe (B.I.O.S. Miscellaneous
Report No. 7 that during the war
experiments were carried out in Germany
on U boats to determine, the effects- of the
tail-shaft bearing materials on propeller
noisewhich was, however, apparently
- suspected to be a combination of-propeller
and bearing nOise. Apparently with the
use of "Buna" rubber no bearing noise
or singing Occurred while engines were
running; but a high pitched squeal was
produced when the engines were stopped.
It isreported that this squeal could not be
avoided with the rubber bearings and that
all. vessels were fitted with wood bearings;
also that tests in hand at the conclusion
of the war provided evidence that beating
noise and propeller singing were related.
As far as- i am aware, experience in this
country with merchant ships has tended
to dissociate propeller noise from shaft
beating conditionscertainly as reported
in "Singing Propellers" (1937)-. the noise
in Ship "A" was such as to sugstthe
tail-shaft bush "running hard "; oil and
grease connexions were fitted but with
completely negative results.
Perhaps the- Authors have seen the above
B.I.O.S. Report and can express an opinion
on any possible relationship between
propeller noise and shaft conditions.
The unexpected effect of air -bubbles on
damping of vibrations referred to -by Mr.
Hughes is of interest in view -of the general
experienceso I thinkthat propellers,
mostly but not- invariably, are more liable
to be noisy when the ship is- -fully loaded
and propeller fully immersed than when
o52 PROPELLER BLADE VIBRATIONS AND UNDERWATER PROPELLER VIBRATION TESTS
at lighter draught with the propeller
breaking surface and carrying down air.
Similarly it is also, I think, generally
accepted that a propeller, other things
being equal, is more likely to be noisy in
cold water than in warm water.
One reasonable explanation of the above
two phenomena is by considering that the
clapper or exciting force causing singing
is the collapse of cavities in vortices on
contating the back of the propeller blade;
if these vortices contain no air or water
vapour the blow, due to collapse- is more
violent and hammer-like such as might well
excite blade vibration : if, however, the
cavity has a small content of air due to
entrainment or release from solution or has
a higher vapour pressure due to higher
temperature, the collapse is cushioned with
a reduced excitation.
It is now for consideration whether the
damping effect of entrained air revealed
by Mr. Hughes may not be the cause of any
reduced tendency to noise under light
draught conditions.
With reference to the reason for damping
by adhering bubbles might I offer the follow-
ing alternative explanation for considera-
tion? Asthe blade vibrates the air bubbles
are alternately compressed and expand;
during compression the heat generated or
part thereof, is rejected to the water and
during expansion the air may receive back
part only- of the rejected heat. Clearly,
then, less work is done by the air during
expansion than is done on it during com-
pression and the difference is perhaps the
damping energy Mr. Hughes- is seeking.
Finally, both to-night's papers cover
only the- "bell" aspect of the singing-
propeller probleman aspect on which
we now have a good deal of information.
We have seen to-night that our "bell "- - as I did some work during the war which
the - propellerhas a large number of was concerned with the impact of solid
manners of vibration fairly closely spaced bodies on a water surface. There you
on frequency and it is difficult to visualize get the same problem of a certain added
a design of propeller which will be a
dead" bell. Similarly, with a propeller
working in -the water behind the ship with
a tip speed .of usually around 60 m.p.h.,
one can hardly expect to obtain by design
the complete absence of a hydrodynamic
clapper From this it seems that complete
solution of the singing-propeller problem
will only be obtained by tackling both
bell" and "clapper" aspects and I may be a function of amplitude. I do not
rather think our knowledge of the former,
particularly after to-night's papers, is the
greateT and that efforts might well be
directed at the ".clapper" aspect.
I)r. P. 0. RICHARDSON:
Tb begin with, I would like to refer to
Mr. Hughes's paper and the problem of the
da±nping of the blades produced by the
presence of -bubbles on the surface. I
think it a fairly well-known phenomenon,
an'd:experimeifls on this matter actually
go back quite a while. I have traced it
back to Mr. A. Mallock,' who was an
engineer and in fact the first person in this
country to demonstrate the existence of
alternative vortices behind obstacles in a
stream. His experiments were very simple
ones concerned with the effect on the
vibrations of a body immersed in water
when air bubbles were present. Perhaps
I can best illustrate his work in this way:
if you take a tumbler of good resonant
quality, fill it with water, then tap it, you
can notice that it still gives certain
resonance; - now put in a teaspoonful of
Andrews Liver Saltsto add a little local
colourand you will probably notice, as
he did, that while the effervescence con-
tinues, the resonance is very much reduced
in other words, there is a fairly large
damping. As the bubbles disappear the
ringing tone of the glass reappears.
- This seems to me a fundamental aspect
of the effect noted by Mr. Hughes. Mallock
gives a theory for it. In acoustical terms,
there is a conversion of the longitudinal
waves of sound into flexural vibrations of
the bubbles, and he works out the amount
of damping to be expected frOm bubbles
of a certain size oscillating to and fro and
taking up energy. In fact, the energy of
the vibrations is disbursed in this way as
the bubbles oscillate and radiate into the
water. The fact that cavitation in the
propeller reduces the tendency to " singing"
can readily be explained -in terms of the
same idea.
There is a second point to which I would
like to refer. On p. 277 of his paper,
Mr. Hughes refers to "added mass" ; he
has-a coefficient fi, which involves the added
mass of the water, and refers to its variation
with frequency. I was interested in this,
mass of water, which has to be associated
with the projectile as it enters the water.
We also noticed that the added mass varied -
with the time of impact. Where the impact
occurred in a very short space of time, the
added mass was greater than that for the
same body at a low-speed entry.?
in connexion with damping coefficient,
I would like to point out that damping
know whether the Authors have considered
that. If not, it is a point which might be
consideredwhether the amplitude varies
the damping even while the frequency
remains constant. -
I wonder also whether they have con-
sidered the effects of the tank size on the
damping? Of course, it is well known that
a sound source working into- a fluid is
'Proc. Roy. Soc. A. Vol. 84, p. 391 (1910).
-fProc, Phys. Soc., Vol. 61, p. 352 (1941). - -
 PROPELLER BLADE VIBRATIONS AND UNDERWATER.PROffj
influenced by any sound reflected from its
surroundings. If sound comes back, hits
the source out-of-phase, it tends to damp
down the vibrations of that source. It
seems to me, therefore, that the effect
of the siz of the tanks might alter the
damping, and it would appear that
Professor Burrill, with the apparatus at
his disposal, would be in a better position
to carry out such experiments, varying
the effective size of the tank by means of
baffles.
Finally, I am very pleased to see that
Professor Burrill has successfully investi-
gated the vibrations of stationary propeller
blades under water, following his earlier
investigatiods in air, and that a stage has
been reached where we can hope that an
attack might eventually be made in the
new cavitation tunnel at King's College.
on the very difficult problem of studying
the vibrations of a blade while the propeller
is actually running.
Mr. H. G. YATES, Member:
Professor Burrili's paper is a most useful
and interesting addition to the first which
I had the pleasure of hearing him deliver
on this subject almost three years ago, and
is excellently supplemented by Mr. Hughes'
paper which overlaps it only to a desirable
extent and .provides a valuable check on
several points.
Mr. Hughes seems fairly convinced that
the singing of propeller blades is not of
the forced resonant type. The damping approximately radial. In . discussing. Pro-
which he found was so small, even in the l'essor Burrill's earlier paper I. remarked
presence of air bubbles, that he thinks that such vibrations were to be anticipated
it most unlikely that the energizing fre- and might perhaps produce some of the
quency could dwell long enough on the observed patterns in which the motion is
peak point to excite a serious resonance. more or less confined to the edges of the
I suggest that there are two factors that
may modify the conditions. First, he
himself says that the form of blade he
used was one that is not frequently asso-
ciated with singing. Some other forms
show more complicated modes of vibration
in which two types occur at nearly the
same frequency and so. would be expected
to produce a different type of resonance
curve having a flat top of finite width. The
likelihood of forced resonance would be,
therefore, greatly increased. Secondly, it
occurs to me that the frequency with
which eddies are shed from the trailing
edge of the blade may itself be influenced
by the blade vibration and may therefore
be "pulled into step ".
I cannot follow Mr. Hughes's reason for
making his amplitude measurenients slightly
off resonance. In a highly resonant
system it may be shown that the percentage
change in response fOr one per cent change
in frequency is very nearly proportional to
the expression sin 20 where 0 is the
difference in phase between excitation and
response and is zero at resonance. This
expression has a maximum value at a point
.RATION tESts D.3
slightly off resonance when the response
is 0707 times the maximum vahie and in
order to reduce the sensitivity to frequency
to, say, a quarter of its maximum value, it
is necessary to detune until the response
has fallen to about an eighth of its
maximum. It does not seem logical to
make measurements of resonant vibration
at a position so far removed from true
resonance; and in the neighbourhood of
resonance the sensitivity to frequency
change is a minimum.
I recently had my first experience of
listening to a singing propeller althbugh I
think it was not a very bad case. The
frequency of themain noise was as high as
800 per second on a large propeller
absorbing 8,000 s.h.p. at 100 r.p.m which
suggests that the limit initially imposed
by Mr. Hughes on the range of his- ek-
plorations, could with advantage be raised.
It was also apparent. that there was
.
linear connexion between noise frequency
and speed of revolution. The frequency
of 800 c.p.s. occurred over a range of
propeller speeds and other frequencies were
also .present at different times, for example,'
approximately 380 c.p.s. at 48 and alsO at
104 revolutions and 320 c.p.s. at 34' and
again at about 90 revolutions per minute.
I am interested to note that the - Dc
Havilland Engine Company Lnited have
found evidence of. modes . of vibration
involving lateral bending about one Or
more axes longitudinal to the blade,.
blade.
Professor Burrill has remarked on .the
interesting possibility that the curves of
frequency plotted against number of nodes
might show intersections between the
lines relating to torsional and flexuial
vibrations respectively. It is perhaps
worth emphasizing that this would only
have significance if the intersection occurred
at an integral node number. By analogy
the intersection of two tram lines does not
necessarily mean a . collision which will
only occur if two vehicles approach the
junction at the same time.
Prof. L. C. BURRJLL, Member of Council:
Mr. Hughes"s . paper has carried us a.
dCflnite stage further in the investigation
of propeller-blade frequencies, in that, it -
establishes three new pOints. In the'
place, th work which he has . done on
blades of varioUs shapes reveals, the effect.
of .di'sc-area ratio on the types of blade
vibrations to be expected. Clearly, the
blade patterns on similr blades are.
essentiall the same for the, different
disc-area ratiOs bit with the - very wide
o54 PROPELLER BLADE VIBRATIONS AND UNDERWATER PROPELLER VIBRATiON. TESTS
blades the nodal patterns appear to break
up into a number of lobes. This informa-
tion may be regarded by some as rather
academic, but it is, nevertheless, of con-
sjderable interest to those who are in--
vestigating the problem of singing.
Mr. Hughes's work on the effect of
sharp edges is also very interesting, and it
throws some new light on the curious
effect which has been found by some
investigatorsthat frequently the mere
sharpening of the edges of a singing
propeller has been sufficient to eliminate
the noise. It has previously been con-
sidered that this effect was possibly due
to the additional damping of the water
in flowing round the sharp edge. Mr.
Hughes now shows that- in' the case of the
blades which he investigated, the effect of
sharpening the edges was to alter the
frequences of vibration in the various
modes, so that it would appear that if a
blade is singing due to some resonant
phenomenon the mere effect of sharpening
the edges may take the frequencies just
sufficiently clear of the resonance condition
and thus avoid the occurrence of singing.
This effect would be particularly marked
if the resultant vibration was due to the
combination of two different modes.
The final point on which he has furnished
new information.is this question of damping
due to air bubbles. it is curious to report
that we never found any air bubbles on the
blades of our propeller, and I can not
explain why this should have occurred in
the case of Mr. Hughes's blades and not
in the case of our propeller. On the other
hand, there is no doubt the presence of a
layer of bubbles on the back of a blade
would have a very considerable damping
effect and it would appear that the results
which Mr. Hughes has obtained are related
to the rather difficult question of the inter-
connexion between cavitation and singing.
The established facts about cavitation and
singing are that propellers working in
complete cavitation have not been found
CORRESPONDENCE
Mr. A. G. BOGGIS:
Mr. Hughes's analysis of the damping
curves for vibrating blades, in which he
attempts to show that singing is unlikely
to be caused by forced resonant vibrations,
by virtue of the narrow width of the curve
at resonance, appears to offer a i'eiy
reasonable argument in favour of this point
of view.
I would suggest, howaver, that the method
of obtaining these curves is open to criti-
cism on two ,points. The first of these
concerns the stability and accuracy of the
oscillator usd. Beat frequency oscillators,
by virtue of the fact that they utilize the
to "sing" under :such conditions, but the
same propellers have been found to" sing"
at lower revolutions, when complete cavita-
tion was not present. On.the other hand,
it would appear from the facts relating to
other singing propellers that singing is a
pre-cavitation or" local cavitation "pheno-
menon, as it has frequently happened that
one of the first indications of the effects
of singing on a blade has been the appear-
ance of small patches of erosion at similar
positions on each blade of a propeller. It
will be remembered that the 16ft. 9 in.
propeller shown in my earlier paper had
distinct patches on each blade near the
middle of the outer parts, and that there
was also a crack through the blade in- this
region. It would appear, therefore; that
while the presence of a fully-developed
cavitation sheet on the back of a blade
thight preclude the possibility of singing,
the initial effects of local cavitation may,
in fact, be the cause of singing. Up to the
present time, no satisfactory theory of
singing has been advanced but there is no
doubt we are gaining a closer understanding
of the phenomena associated with blade
vibrations.
Mr. Hughes has limited his consideration
of frequencies to those lying below 300
c.p.s. for a propeller of normal proportions,
but I recently heard a propeller of some
16 ft. in diameter emitting a noise of about
600 c.p.s., and it is interesting to note
that the main noise frequency for propellers
of the type discussed -in my paper was
about 1,000 to 1,100 cycles per second,
which means that the mode of vibrations
concerned was most likely that shown in
Fig. 16, (i.e. the cross-mode.)
VOTE OF THMIKS
On the motion of the PRESIDENT
(Mr. Mungo Campbell), a vote of thanks
was accorded to Prof. Burrill and Mr.
Hughes for their papers.
difference between two higher frequencies
tend to be unstable. Thus a small varia-
tion in one of the oscillators will cause a
much greater change in the output fre-
quency to be experienced. I suggest that
readings differing only by 1 or 2 c.p.s. in
1000 c.p.s. are not to be relied upon.
The second objection is that excitation of
a single-mass spring system,'at a frequency
close to its natural frequency causes a
beating, which must create some difficulty
in the interpretation of respotise, at points
on the slope of the curve.
A .method which we have used enables
the effective damping cOefficient 'to be
 ?ROPELLER BLAtE VIBjtA11O4S ANb tJt.bkWAtER PROPELLER 'kRAfiON iEST5.
measured, although it does not allow the
response curve to be drawn. A wire air bubbles, but not singing. With highly
resistance strain gauge was stuck on to the
propeller blade, and the oscillations in
strain were shown on a cathode-ray
oscillograph. By disconnecting the vibra-
tor, the propeller vibrations die away in
accordance with the usual geometrical
progression, being controlled only by the
water damping and internal damping of the
material. The variations in the strain as
shown on the cathode-ray osdilograph
are photographed. This can then be
measured and the logarithmic decrement
calculated.
Fig. 24 shows the damping of the pro-
peller blade in the case of Fig. 3 (F I in
water) shown in Professor Burnill's paper
From measurements of this record the
effective logarithmic decrement is 043,
and the change in frequency due to damping
calculated from this, can be shown to be
less than 1-th per cent.
As Mr. Hughes remarks, the sharpness
of the response curve does decrease the
likelihood that singing is caused by forced
vibrations of a resonant character, but the
possibility that some of the modes are
excited by striking the blades in some
manner, deserves consideration.
A sudden rise or fall in pressure, such as
may occur when a particular propeller
blade passes the stern post, may well have
a very steep wave front. If so, it would
probably consist of a very large number of
pressure waves at different frequencies,
and any one of these might cause excitation
of one of the higher modes of vibration
of t'he propeller blade.
Mr. W. T. BOTIDMLEY, Member:
Mr. Hughes suggests that the critical
nature of singing is perhaps connected
with the formation of bubbles on the back
of the blade under working conditions.
In a recent paper* I have discussed Van
Iterson's suggestion that -cavitating erosion
is due to the collapse of capilhly air
bubbles in a super saturated state. These
bubbles form and collapse when the water
pressure is well above the vapour pressure.
Experiments appear to- show that the
formation of capillary air bubbles depends
on the texture of the surface of the material.
If the surface is smooth and polished,
bubbles will not form until the water falls
to the vapour pressure. If the surface is
rough, capillary air bubbles may form at
any pressure between the air saturation
pressure of the water and the vapour
pressure. Experiments will be carried out
shortly which I hope will prove this point
definitely for cast iron.
Therefore fOr cast-iron propellers we
Erosion due to Incipient Cavitation" by W. T.
Bottomley, -1.Meck.E., Vol. 158, Decethber 1948.
would expect erosion due -to the capillary
polished manganese-bronze propellers,
bubbles would be unable to form under
normal working conditions because there
are no nuclei or points on which to form.
It appears then that the absence of singing
with cast-iron propellers is due to the
roughness of the surface rather than to- the
design.
It is rather surprising that the Author
was able to prevent the forthation of bubbles V
by deoxidation by sodium sulphite because
the nitrogen constitutes the largest part of
the air bubbles
Mr. H. A. DELLS
In connexion with the phase shift
reported- by Mr. Hughes as the cause of
his elliptical c.r.t. trace found near a nodal
point, we have found in our own experi-
ments that difficulties sometimes arise
from the nature of the exciting transducer.
It seems that if the: electro-mechanical
coupling is not perfect, as is often the case,
the applied potential or current will not
in general be in phase with the mechanical
oscillation. Strictly the best method of
operation would be to use two identical
pickups, one fixed permanently at the
point of excitation giving the horizontal
deflection of the spot,. and the other used
as the exploring probe.
The curious effect of bubbles on the
damping of a vibrating system is very
interesting as it will undoubtedly be of
importance to us in our work on super-
sonics and cavitation. It is not easy to
see how the bubbles can produce the large
effect observed, but is it possible that their
interference with the flow of water round
the oscillating blade accounts for it,
particularly as it is only at the upper.
frequencies that the size of the blade -
becomes comparable with tile wave-length
(in water) of the sOund? Alternatively,
can it be that the bubbles convert to heat a
proportion of the surface tension energy
changes as they follow the compression and
rarefaction pressures of the surrounding
water? - -
Dr. 3. F. SHANNON:
Mr. Hughes made an excellent choice of
-
blade forms for his experiments and his
tests have been methodically carried
through and presented in a clear manner.
The experimental technique was good and
his observations and conclusions sound.
The classification of modes is very clearly
shown. Attention-is-drawn to the curves
of amplitude contours for blade. C in Fig.
13 where it-is shown that the movement is
more or less confined to the- narrow
portion round -the blade edge and the
Author correctly concludes that this is the
portion of the blade that will emit-sound.
r,6 PROPELLER Bi.ba VIBRATIONS AND UNDERWATER PROPELLER VIBRATION TESTS

It can also be concluded that the blade edge
is the most e'ective place to excite vibration.
Hence the sigufficance' of damping intro-
duced by' sharpening the blade edges, as
advocated by me and my former colleagues.
I believe with the Author that singing is
not a synchronous effect and hence the
slight change in frequency caused by
sharpening the blade edge can not be the
reason why this " cure "has been successful
in some, cases of propeller singing. The
Author has not yet measured the damping
due. to.. edge sharpening but his future
work on this aspect will be of value. The
outstanding point brought out by the tests
was the considerable damping effect of
air bubbles. This. was very : remarkable
and the Author deserved great credit for
having been the first to find this feature.
It would be of value to know the effect of
these bubbles on the damping when they
just begin to form at the leading edge
and also their relation to the damping
caused by the sharp edge. If strain gauges
are ever fitted to a propeller in order to
examine the vibrations in service, will the
bubbles which will occur due to the strain
gauges and lead wires introduce damping
which will obscure the vibrations which.
cause singing? An investigation into this
point may save disappointment in the
future.
Professor Burrill's paper shows the
difficulties which arise in measuring the
vibration modes in a stationary full-scale
propeller; modes which are quite easy
to excite in model bladôs prove to be
difficult in the' complete propeller.
regards the cross-modes Prof. Burrill finds
these easy to excite and is inclined to the
view that singing may be due to such
modes and coupled vibrations. This is
contrary to Mr. Hughes's results which
show that the uncoupled. diaphragm applied to full-scale propellers if the laws
modes produce the, most intense sound. 'of similarity are clearly known. While for
Clearly the case for cross-modes as being vibrations in air the .frequencies of full
TABLE 5
those most likely to cause singing, has not
yet been proved. It would be interesting
to know whether it is intended to measure
the vibrations of a singing propeller in
service by strain gauging. This would
serve the dual purpose of. determining
both the working stress and the vibrations
occurring in the blades. This technique is
already well established in aircraft propeller
testing.
Mr. A. SILVERLEAF:
''These two papers provide useful addi-
tional data on the vibration characteristics
of propellers, and the extension of previous
work to include underwater tests, is a
valuable step. While agreeing with the
belief of both Authors that the only
practicable method of investigating pro-
peller vibration modes is by experiment,
'it is 'still of interest to compare test 'results
with calculated frequencies. Thus, for
example, a comparison of frequency ratios
for flexural modes of vibrating cantilevers
gives (Table 5).
As these figures show the frequencies for
a complete propeller to be so much closer
than for a single cantilever beam, whether
of uniform or variable section, it is possible
that a built propeller may have vibration
characteristics different from those of its
component blades. The results of Mr.
Hughes's frequency calculations for the fla,t
blade would help investigation of this
suggestion, especially as, owing to the
presence of harmonics in the exciting force
system, it is not easy to compare his
As experimentally determined frequency ratios
for pure fiexural modes of vibration
Further information on this point would
be given by tests on a single blade of the
propeller tested by Prof. Burrill.
Results of model tests can only be

Frequency Ratio
No. of (1) . (2) (3) ' ' (4)
Nodal Lines Uniform Tapered Elliptical Four-Bladed
on Blade Cantilever Wing Flat Plate Propeller
0 1 ' 1 1 -1
I. 6'2 ' 3.5 . 5.7 l'44
2' 17'5 80 ' . 15'6 288
l4l
'

3 . 34.4 30'2 4'45

4 .568 46'9 637

Standard calculated values.

Values calculated by method of sweeping."*
Observed values in air (Grinsted, see Burrill, Fig. 23).
,, ;, ,, ' ,, (Eurrill, see Table 1).
Bcskin and Rosenber8, burn. Aeronautical Sciences, Nov. 1946.
 PROPELLER BLADE VIBRATIONS AND UNDERWATER PROPELLER VIBRATION TESTS
scale propellers may be those of ged-
metrically similar models divided by the
linear scale ratio, this simple relation is
not likely to hold for blades vibrating in
water. Both Prof. Burrill's and Mr.
Hughes's underwater tests show the en-
trained-water effect to vary with frequency
in a manner independent of the mode of
vibration. Such dependence on the abso-
lute value of frequency introduces a scale
effect due to the different laws of similarity
governing the structural and the entrained-
water effects. Further tests in air and
water with a series of geometrically similar
single blades or complete propellers of
varying size, and thus with different fre-
quencies, would give useful information on
this point.
This problem is also of importance in
the study of ship-hull vibrations, since
most -present methods of calculating
critical frequencies assume the entrained-
water effect to be independent of frequency
and to depend only on the shape of the
immersed hull form. The work of Bräh-
mig,* among others, on the entrained-
water effect on torsional vibration of ship
propellers throws useful light on these
allied problems.
Dr. J. LOCKWOOD TAYLOR:
There are many interesting points in
Mr. Hughes's paper. I am particularly
interested in his observations on pitch or
blade-twist effect on frequency. The effect
in the case of. the primary torsional is of
the order I should expect from my 1943
I.N.A. paper,t where I estimated the
increase in torsional rigidity due to twist,
using a very simple approximation. Briefly,
torque applied to an already twiste4. blade
necessarily involves extensional strain of the
blade middle plane, hence a large increase
in stiffness over the flat blade. Why then
does this not appear in the secondary and
higher torsional modes? The answer
must, I think, lie in the departure from the
purely torsional modes shown clearly in
the -diagrams ; the blade in fact vibrates in
such a way as to minimize extensional
strains, as would be expected from energy
considerations. It would be interesting if
the theory that extensional strain accounts
for the differences between flat blade and
pitched frequencies could be checked by
calculation, using the observed modes.
I am sceptical with regard to Mr. Hughes's
remarks, on the effect of damping in
eliminating the nodal lines and in causing
phase shift from point to point. Surely
the amplitude cannot change from positive
to negative without passing through zero,
damping or no damping? A possible
R. BRAFIM....Esperin,cntal determinatiän of
the hydródyoamic increase in niass in oscillating
bodies" (SchObau, June, 1940).
" Propeller Elade Vibration." VoL 85, -
D57
explanation of the experimental results is
that a nodal line (for natural displacements)
is not free from tangential motion, due to
bending.about the neutral surface, and
extension of the neutral surface.
There are some unexplained incon-'
sistencies in the damping results but I think
I can account for the observed effect of
surface air bubbles on damping -and
frequency. Obviously both are hydro-
dynamic effects due only indirectly to the
bubbles. Surface pressure changes on a
vibrating blade (due to virtual inertia) can
be quite high and the resulting expansion
and compression of the bubbles seems
capable of setting up violent local turbu-
lence in the water resulting in added inertia
and damping. The conclusion as to the
negative correlation between cavitation
and singing is interesting; elsewhere I
have suggested that due to these same pres-
sure changes singing can possibly cause
cavitation.
The results in both papers on water
inertia are much as expected though I have
made' no detailed comparison with the
predictions of my 1943 paper.
1 do not follow Professor Burrill when
he says that singing may be due to torsional
flexual coupling apart from hydrodynamic
causes; if so, then a blade should sing in
air or in vacuo. I remain unconvinced
also as to the evil effect of" interference"
between modes. I believe that flutter
theory long ago discarded the idea that
coincidence of natural frequencies is
critical (if this is what the Author means).
Dr. Ir. W. P. A. van LAMMEREN:
(Remarks on Prof Burrill's paper.)
The tests described in this paper are a
very valuable continuation of Prof. Burrill's
earlier work in this field. In imitation of
Prof. Burrill's method we tested a singing
propeller of the B-series type designed for a
coaster- which propeller afterwards was
cured by the method of sharpening the
edges on the Outer parts of the propeller
blades.
This method of sharpening the edges,
though not viewed with favour by British
propeller manufacturers, has proved to be
very successful, especially with propellers
designed according to the Wageningen
B-series with thickened trailing edges.
This constructioti mentioned in my con-
tribution to the discussion on the Author's
1946 paper as well as in the English version
of our book "Resistance, propulsion and
steering of ships" has- proved to be wrong
in relation to singing. It was based on
the results obtained with -some propellers
having blades with very thin trailing edges
which were cut off and became silent.
Usually,- however, the result is the oppoite,
D58 PROPELLER BLADE VIBRATIONS AND UNDERWATER PROPELLER V]BRATION TESTS
From a BIOS report* it appears that the
method of sharpening the blade edges was
successfully applied by the German navy
during the war. We too cured a series of
fifteen singing propóllers in succession
without any exception.
We started the sharpening of the back
and the face of the blades from about
O 7R at the leading edge round the tip to
about 0 6R at the trailing edge (Fig. 25a).
Tests with big-scale propeller models in
the cavitation tunnel, however, showed
some leading edge cavitation.. Then we
only sharpened the trailing edge at back and
face of the blades, with the same success
(Fig. 25b).
Very recently we sharpened the trailing
edge of the blades of a propeller at the back
only (Fig. 25c). In all cases the diameter of
the rounding off circles remained 2 to 3 mm.
The results are not yet available but scale
tests in the cavitation tunnel with singing-
propeller models have shown that this small
modification will be sufficient to cure
singing.
As we were very anxious to know the
effect of sharpening of the blade edges on
the mode of vibration we carried out the
above mentioned tests on a propeller with
and without sharpened blade edges. The
tests were carried out in air according to
the method described by the Author.
Preliminary consideration of the results
which have not been fully worked out up to
the present do not show any appreciable
differences between the vibration pictures.
At any rate they seem to be smaller than
the mutual differences between the pictures
of the four blades of the propeller. It may
be. however, that under-water tests will
give quite different results and further
research as done by Prof. Burrill might
prove to be useful. For the present I am
inclined to describe the effect of sharp
edges mainly to the increase in hydro-
dynamic damping. I should be very
pleased to have Prof. Burrill's views on this
point.
Moreover I am not quite sure that the
results obtained from these statical tests
will correspond with those of the hydro-
dynamically loaded actual propeller. I
should feel obliged to the Author if he
could give me his views on this very
important point.
My general impression of the vibration
pictures is that it will be very difficult to
arrive at well-defined conclusions from these
pictures concerning singing especially while
the pictures are very sensitive to small
changes in frequency.
(Remarks on Mr. Hughes's paper.)
I have said something about the effect of
sharpening the blade edges on the pheno-
- BIOS Miscellaneous Report No. 76; Technical
Report Nos. 545-45, Manufacture and design of
propellers in Germany during thewar;" Oct. 1945.
menon of singing. I should like to men-
tion, however, that the good results
obtained with sharpened blade edges could
partly be forecast with the aid of tests with
18 m. propeller models in the cavitation
tunnel. We tested some propeller models
singing at a frequency which was that of the
actual propeller multiplied by the linear
scale ratio. The model propellers were
cured by sharpening the blade edges in a
way as mentioned above. The singing of
the propeller models disappeared in all
cases. The full-scale propellers became
silent in the first two' cases but the result of
the third case is not yet known.
The results not only confirm Mr. Hughes's
important conclusion that the phenomenon
of singing propellers could be studied with
the aid of tests on model scale, but that
tests in the cavitation tunnel with relatively
large manganese bronze models might be
of the utmost importance for the solution
of the problem.
Mr. Hughes's remarks about the effect of
ait bubbles upon singing are very interesting.
I cannot agree, however, with his general
conclusion that it is most unlikely that
singing ' will occur 'in a blade which is
operating under cavitation conditions. As
a matter of fact I observed face and back
cavitation erosion on the blades of singing
propellers. But this' is not in contra-
diction with Mr. Hughes's statement that
severe cavitation often does occur without
any trace of singing. An explanation may
be the fact that both singing and erosion
may occur at a certain limited range of
number of revolutions which ranges can
be entirely different for both phenomena.
In reading the very interesting and.
valuable papers by Prof. Burrill and Mr.
Hughes I feel sony to state that several
investigations are simultaneously working
on the same subject, obviously without any
contact and I should like to ask Mr. Hughes
whether there could be found a way 'to
co-operation, possibly under the auspices
of the International Tank Conference.
Dr. W. KER WILSON, Member, and
Mr. B. GRINSTED:
Our interest in the fascinating subject of
the vibration of plate-like bodies was
stimulated about two years ago when we
were confronted with the rather difficult
and obscure problem of the vibration of
the vanes of centrifugal compressors for
gas-turbine engines. The large vanety of
nodal patterns which we were' able to
excite in these compressor vanes appeared
to be just as haphazard as those disclosed
in Professor Burrill's earlier paper.t
It was, therefore, decided to make a
study of the classical work of Chiadni and
others on the vibration of plates and a
paper is being prepared to cover this work.
fVoI. 62..
 PROPELLER BLADE VIBRATIONS AND UNDERWATER PROPELLER VIBRATION TESTS D59

However, to promote a better under-
standing of the nodal patterns now pre-
sented in Professor Hurrili's and Mr.
Hughes's papers, the following notes may
be of some help.
Chladni (1756-1827) was a pioneer of
plate-vibration study as well as being the
originator of the sand pattern. He demon-
strated a formidable number of patterns on
plates of various profiles and also dis-
covered that many of these could be
explained by the simultaneous occurrence
of two independent basic modes. These
basic modes consist of orthogonal networks
of nodal lines, the complexity increasing
with frequency. Since the increase in
frequency due to an extra line in one
direction bears little relation to the increase
due to an extra line in the perpendicular
direction, (except in the case of the square
plate) the modal frequencies become
separated into "families" (as illustrated
in Fig. 23 of Prof. Burrill's paper) and a
member of one family may have a fre-
quency approximately equal to that of
another family. When this occurs there is
a likelihood of their compounding. This
can take place in two possible ways, i.e. if
both modes are considered to be in phase
in one of the compounded forms they will
be 180 degrees out of phase in the other
(as described in Barton's "Sound ").
The frequencies of the two compounded
modes which result, are found to differ

. ''j I ii

Fig. 24

LOB

Q51oa5R) OSo

(cc. . back face i. bck back

a(2o+(o.00s(Dmç_ 2000)]1
J max.30mm

b Ola
Fig. 25
060 PROPELLER BLADE VIBRATIONS AND UNDERWATER PROPELLER VIBRATION TESTS
appreciably, one being above that of the
higber basic rhode (had it been excited
independently) and the other below that
of the lower basic mode. The difference in
the frequencies, is dependent on Poisson's
ratio and would only be zero if Poisson's
ratio were zero for the material of the plate.
On this basis the following observations
can be made
(a)The reason why "pure" flexural and
torsional modes are only recognizable
at the lower frequencies is. that there
are fewer. possibilities of compound-
ing (as may be seen from Fig. 23 of
Prof. Bi.rrill's paper).
The frequencies of modes, however
accurately measured, may be very
misleading if not viewed tOgether with
all the other frequencies 'and the
possibilities of compounding.
Basic modes on the marine propeller
blade will have
(I) Nodal lines which are substantially
parallel to the torsional axis but
deviateto an extent which is
influnced by the shape of the
blade.
(ii) Nodal lines which aresubstantially
parallel to the fixed edge but,
again, are influenced by the shape
of the blades.
The resultthg networks will in all cases
have nodal lines endeavouring to meet the
edges of the blade at right angles while at
the same time crossing óach other at right
angles. Thee are the conditions for the
least strain energy in a vibrating system.
The possibility of the torsional frequency
curve actually crossing the flexural fre-
quency curve, referred to by PrOf. Burrill,
is regardedas unlikely except with certain
extreme proportions of blade dimensions,
e.g. the aircraft propeller blade.
in the related field of torsional and
flexural vibration of heavy shafts such a
condition is theoretically possible. Accord-
ing to . heavy (circular) shaft theory the
tOrsional frequencies increase linearly with
the number of nodes whereas the flexural
frequencies approach proportionality tO
the square of the number of nodes. Thus,
irrespective of end conditions, there must
be some point at which the two curves
intersect. The point of intersection in
any given case will depend on the length!
diameter ratio, bearing in mind that the
torsional frequencies are inversely propor-
tional to the length of the shaft, vhëreas
the flexural frequencies are inversely
proportional to the square of the length.
These considerations imply the possibility
in certain cases of a cOincidence between a
torsiOnal and a flexural frequency.
Considering now a beam of non-circular
section. bending takes place in the fibres
furthermost removed from the axis. The
contribution of the bending deflection to
the stiffness of the torsional modes will
increase as the number of nodes increases
because of the decrease in span between the
nodal lines. The curve of torsional
frequencies will, therefore, depart from the
linearity associated with a circular section
so that in the case of, say, a rectangular
section, intersection of the torsional and
flexural frequency curves becomes less likely
as the width/thickness ratio increases.
Thus for the proportions of a marine
propeller it is considered unlikely that the
curves will cross.
 DISCUSSION ON "PROPELLER BLADE VIBRATIONS"
AND
"UNDERWATER PROPELLER VIBRATION TESTS"
Professor BURRILL'S Reply
The object of the present work was to
determine the natural modes and. fre-
quenciès of vibration of a propeller blade
under water, so that these could be com-
pared with the previous results obtained
in air. it is, in fact, considered that a
thorough understanding of the ways in
which a marine propeller blade -may
- vibrate is essential before the more complex
- problem of singing can be attacked. It
does not follow from this that the nature
of the patterns excited will necessarily
reveal the cause of singing, but it is quite
'clear that the vibration patterns corres-
ponding to different blade shapes and blade
sections exhibit different characteristics,
and comparison between the patterns
excited in the case of singing propellers
and those which have been excited in. the
case of non-singing propellers does reveal
quite significant differences which may
account Tor the fact that some propellers
do not respond to the hydrodynamic
causes of singing while others are very
noisy. Experience has shown that very
small modifications to the blades can
change a very noisy propeller into one
which is quite silent.
Mr. Harry Hunter has commented on
the jarring and grating, nature of the, noises
as heard in the ship as compared with the
relatively tuneful notes which were produced
in air when the propeller on which the
present tests were carried out was vibrated
at the, earlier meeting in 1946. The noises
which are heard in the ship are frequently
a combination of several notes corres-
ponding to different modes of vibration,
which may -co-exist at the same time, and
the rotating source of the sound has the'
effect of producing a rather complex noise
-which rises and falls, sometimes once per
revolution, sometimes twice per revolution.
This' mixed noise is similar to that which
would be obtained by striking a propeller
blade with a hammer, as then a number of
different modes would be excited 'at one
'and the same time. Early experiments
carried out in this way were, in fact, - were associated with loud singing. One
unproductive of satisfactory results because
12
the' figures obtained 'were not always the
same when a blade was struck in a particular
point. The advantage of the electronic
method of exciting the blades at resonance
with the aid of very small periodic forces
is that, by and large, only one mode of
vibration is excited at a given time. The
resultantpattern and the resonant frequency
for that mode may then be carefully
studied, and while the propeller is vibrating
it will emit a single note corresponding
to the resonant frequency. ' It is well to
be reminded that in the actual ship two or
more modes may be excited at any time.
For example, some recent measurements
showed that when a propeller was turning
at 30 revolutions per minute the noise
emitted consisted of a single harmonious
note having a frequency of 495 cycles per
second, but 'at 96 revolutions per minute
the noise was made up of vibrations at
68 cycles per second, 135 cycles per second
and 785 cycles per' second respectively.
This latter noise rose and fell twice per
revolution and, as will be judged from the
combination given, was 'not a. pure note.
The most noisy modes of vibration
observed by the Author have been the
cross-mode shown in Figs. 16 and 17 and
the diaphragm mode which is illustrated
by the pattern corresponding to 2,418
cycles per second in Fig. 23'. Several
examples of vibrations of these two types
were Obtained on propellers F-M in the
previous paper. As is indicated on p. 306,
these are produced by a combination of
the flexural mode having three transverse
nodes across the blade and a lateral mode
with two nodes running approximately
along' the length direction of each blade,
the cross-mode pattern being produced
when these vibrations 'are of the same
phase and. therefore additive, and the other
pattern with a circle in the outer parts
being produced when they are in opposite
phase. Such patterns were observed on
eight propellers in the previous tests
carried out in air, all of which propellers
of the objects of the present work was.;to
D62 PROPELLER BLADE VIBRATIONS AND UNDERWATER PROPELLER VIBRATION TESTS
find out whether the pattern for propeller
M, which had been obtained in air, would
be reproduced in water. It will be seen
from Fig. 16 of the present paper that this
is so.
The most vigorous vibratiOn which has
been recorded was that at 265 cycles per
second for propeller F shown in the
previous paper. In this case the move-
ments of sawdust on the surface of the
blade were extremely vigorous and the
sawdust, if scattered uniformly over the
blade, moved rapidly up the blade against
the pitch slope towards the nodal lines.
In order to verify that the results obtained
with the propeller mounted on blocks in
the tank are applicabla to an actual ship,
it is. proposed, as Mr. Harry Hunter
suggests, to carry out some experiments
with the propeller actually in position on
the shaft of a ship, and the Author will
be very pleased to have the co-operation
of Mr. Hunter in carrying out this test.
It w.s at one time a matter of considerable
discussion whether the singing noises heard
in the Athelfoam and other vessels, were
caused by the shaft bearings or were due
to the propeller, and numerous tests were
carried out. to determine the contribution
made by the bearings in causing the noise.
It is now generally agreed that singing
is due to sustained vibrations of the
propelle± blades, and that the cause lies
in the shape of the blades and the type
of sections adopted. Singing is therefore
a question of blade design and can be
avoided by the adoption of suitable blade-
section shapes. At the same tune, there
is some evidence that when the propeller
is singing the shaft and the shaft liner
are in some ways affected by the blade
vibrations. For example, the Author has
in the past examined several shaft liners
which have shown curious erosion or
- pitting marks, spaced at 90 degrees intervals,
which occurred at some distance forward
of the propeller, and which were no doubt
associated. in some manner with the
singing vibrations of the four blades. In
another instance, the presence of singing
produced a noise in the reduction-gear
case at the forward end of the shaft which
disappeared when the propeller was made
silent. It appears that this shafting effect
is the result of singing rather than the
cause and may be treated as a secondary
effect.
In every case in the Author's experience,
propellers have been found to be more
noisy when the ship was fully loaded than
at lighter draughts, and as this has
happened in almost every case upon record,
it would appear to be firmly estabhshed.
As Mr. Hunter points out, this may be
due to lack Of immersion or due to the
blades breaking surface or, on the other
hand, it may be influenced by the slip
angles at which the blades will be working
in the light and deep conditions.
In reply to Dr. E. G. Richardson's
remark about the effect of amplitude on
blade damping under water, I can only
say that so far as our tests were concerned,
the water loading at different amplitudes
did not appear to have any effect on the
resonant frequencies. That is to say, it
frequently happened that a pattern was at
first excited very vigorously and later the
gain of the amplifier was reduced without
affecting the frequency and without requir-
ing the beat frequency oscillator to be
retuned. Undoubtedly the size of tank
can have a considerable effect on the
damping and this was taken into account
when it was decided to make our tank
20 ft. square, so that reflections from the
walls would have relatively little effect.
It is not thought that the tank sides would
have a great deal of effect on the measured
frequencies, but it seems possible that the
rather small tank used by Mr. Hughes
may have had some influence both on the
damping effects and also on the complex
modes excited, some of which may have
been due to reflection . of pressure waves
from the tank sides. Dr. Richardson's
suggestion that we might pursue this matter
by fitting baffles in our tank is one which
we will take into account for later experi-
ments, as this could quite readily be
arranged. As Dr. Richardson will see
from the contribution submitted by Dr.
van Lammeren, it has already been possible
to observe propellers singing in the cavita-
tion tunnel, but the Author feels that this
condition may be rather difficult to control.
Mr. H. G. Yates discusses the possible
nature of singing vibrations and concludes
that these may quite readily be of the
forced resonant type. He also points out
that the frequency of eddy-shedding may
itself be influenced by the blade vibrations
and may, therefore, under certain circum-
stances, be "pulled" into step. The
Author's view in this matter is that the
actual blade vibrations which occur during
singing are of the resonant type, as a very
small change in the revolutions can
frequently either cause the propeller to be
entirely silent or bring about a changed
note. At the present stage, however, it
is probably wisest to conclude that pro-
pellers may sing in different ways and due
to different causes, as -in some instances
the frequency of the note heard appears
to rise steadily with the revolutions,
whereas in other cases a predominant note
of a given frequency is to be heard through-
out the whole range of engine speeds
accompanied by other subsidiary notes at
various revolutions. I must confess I had
not remembered Mr. Yates's remarks about
the modes of vibration involving lateral
 PROPELLER BLADE VIBRATIONS AND UNDERWATER PROPELLER VIBRATION TESTS
bending in the discussion of my earlier
paper, and it is interesting, therefore, to
note that Grinsted's work has shown
clearly that the complex cross-mode
pattern is, in fact, a combination between
a flexural mode and another mode of
vibration having two nodes approximately
parallel to the longitwiiruil axis of the
blade and that in one case at least this was
the predominant mode in which singing
occurred.
The remarks of Dr Ker Wilson and
Mr. Grz,sted on the separation of the
resonant frequencies into families and the
fact that approximate equality of the
frequencies of two or more members of
different families may give rise to compound
vibrations, are of considerable interest.
The fact that the frequencies of such
compounded modes, which result from
this phenomenon, lie, respectively, slightly
above that of the higher basic mode and
slightly below that of the lower basic-mode,
and the further fact that such modes appear
to be readily interchangeable can lead to
the existence of very complex vibrations,
for which the corresponding noises would
be' quite inharmonious. For example, it
was found in the earlier tests conducted
in air that the existence of a cross mode
was very quickly followed in the frequency
scale by a diaphragm mode, and it was
frequently difficult to differentiate sharply
as between these two types of patterns.
- It may be that the curious oscillating notes
A/B/A/B. . . which sometimes occui are
due to the blades vibrating alternately in
one or other of these two patterns.
It is interesting to note that Mr. Grinsted
considers that the possibility of a crossing
point between the torsional and flexural
frequency curves is unlikely except with the
long, narrow blades of airscrews. It
appears to the Author that this effect is
probably governed by the longitiidinal
distribution of thickness of the blades, i.e.
the- amount of taper adopted from root
to tip. The curves prbduced by Mr.
Grinsted are for a flat plate, whereas those
shown by the Author are for a tapered
wedge, which, in fact, does not have a
uniform rate of reduction in thickness in
the radial direction, and it is believed that
this is a matter which is worthy of further
testing by means of experiments in air
and in water.
Apologies are offered for the mis-spelling
of Mr. Grinsted's name in the paper.
I was interested to learn from Dr. von
Lainmeren's contribution that they have
been carrying out similar experiments 'in
air and in water at Wageningen and that,
-furthermore, they have been able to study
the singing phenomenon in the cavitation
tunnel. The effect of sharp edges in
stopping singing is by now well known,
D6i
but this is considered to be a palliative
rather than a regular procedure to be
adopted in normal designs, as it has been
found possible to consistently produce
non-singing propellers having blade edges
of the normal commercial thickness.
- It is interesting to learn that the sugges-
tion made by Dr. van Lammeren in his
comments on the earlier paper that the
adoption of specially thick trailing edges
with the B 440 type design has proved to
be unsuccessful. There seems no doubt
that this thickening of the trailing edge
would have some influence on' the mass
balance of the blades and that the use of
a thickened trailing edge could lead to
eddy formation in this region. - It would
appear - that it is now suggested by Dr.
van Lamineren that very sharp trailing
edges would be more advantageous. This
would, of course, increase the edge-damping
in a critical region of the blades and would
also avoid the unbalance referred to above,
so that, generally speaking, the Author
would agree orr this point. It would not
be expected that the adoption of sharp
edges should have a considerable influence
on the blade patterns and frequenrit.s in
air, but I think the work already carried
out' by Mr. Hughes is sufficient to indicate
that an appreciable change in frequency
is to be expected in water and the sharpening
of one edge only may possibly affect the
blade patterns. I believe that 'the tests
carried out to date have made it possible
to identify some of the patterns corres-
ponding to the singing noises emitted by
actual propellers, and the results of further
tests at sea should, I think, soon establish
the kind of blade vibrations which are
associated with the singing noise. This,
in my view, will be a distinct forward step.
Dr. van Larnmeren comments on the
fact that work is 'being carried out in this
field by different observers, and draws the
conclusion that an agreed programme
would probably be more beneficial, but I
feel that, as in other fields, more rapid
progress is to be expected if several investi-
gators are at work on the subject, rather
-than that the work should be confined to
a single institution or laboratory. The
same argument could be used in connexion
with tests on hull forms or in connexion
with propellers, and I think Dr. van
Larnmeren will agree that they have, by
pursuing their own lines of research,
contributed in a great measure to the
advances which have been made in con-
nexion with these problems. No doubt
- the fact that several investigators are
working on the same subject frequently
leads to the emergence of similar -results
from various establishments but, on the-
whole, this js considered by the Author
to be -advantageous tather than otherwise.
o64 PROPELLER BLADE VIBRATIONS AND U1'IDERWATER PROPELLER VIBRATION TESTS

In carrying out these tests the main to the thicker and narrower root section
object was to establish the effects of water adopted. Some attempt has been made
damping on the modes of vibration to be to correlate frequencies for different sizes
expected, as compared with the previous of propellers in air, but so far it has not
results obtaiiwd in air, but I agree with been possible to establish any simple law
Mr. Hunter that until a clear theory has of similarity. It seems clear, however,
been established it is essential to investigate that the simple relationship (i.e. that the
both the "clapper" and the "bell." The frequencies vary inversely with the linear
present experiments relate to the bell alone, scale ratio) does not apply rigorously to
and Dr. Lockwood Taylor is incorrect in propellers of different sizes.
deducing from the statement made on
p. 306 that blades subject to torsional It is an interesting point that Mr.
flexural coupling should sing in air or Silverleaf raises about the variation of
in vacuo. In the field of wing-flutter entrained water effect with the frequency.
investigations, it has long been understood No doubt the to-and-fro' movements of
that the existence of coupling between. the the water vary in character as between the
natural torsional and flexural movements lower and higher modes. As the blade
is one cause of sustained vibrations, and is broken up into a large number of lobes,
many wing forms and aircraft-propeller- the total disturbance appears to be very
blade shapes have been designed with their much reduced, as compared with that
section centroids arranged along a straight which obtains when the blade is vibrating
axis with a view to avoiding this effect. as a simple cantilever. The situation is
not quite similar to that which Obtains
In presenting the tentative conclusions in the case of. a ship executing vertical
as to possible causes of blade sensitivity vibrations with several nodes in the length,
to singing, the Author was drawing con- but it seems likely that tests on vibrated
clusions from the blade patterns exhibited ship models will reveal a not dissimilar
by singing propellers as compared with result so far as the entrained water effect
those obtained from non-singing propellers, at higher frequencies is concerned.
and there is no doubt that the singing Dr. Shannon is incorrect in concluding
propellers investigated to date have shown
the existence either of torsional flexural that I am inclined to the view that singing
coupling or of the diaphragm modes to may be due to the cross-modes because
which attention is drawn in this and the these are easily excited. The only reason
earlier paper. It may be argued that it is for suggesting that the cross-mode and
too early to draw such conclusions from the corresponding . diaphragm modes may be
limited number of tests made, but I believe the singing modes is that these patterns
that the above conclusion will be confirmed have consistently been found to occur in
when more reliable and more full informa- the case of singing propellers tested. The
tion becomes available. It does not appear fact that it has been entirely impossible to
to me that the flutter theory advanced by excite. these patterns in the non-singing
Dr. Taylor. will explain all the singing propellers tested is not, perhaps, conclusive
phenomena, and I believe a more complete evidence, but it is curious that none of the
theory will emerge in due course. singing propellers tested has been free from
these cross and diaphragm modes.
Mr. Silverleaf points out that the
.frequencies for the higher modes of It is not quite clear to the Author which
vibration are less widely spaced than those modes are the uncoupled diaphragm modes
obtained by calculation for a single referred to by Dr. Shannon, but if these
cantilever beam. The difficulty of making are the lobe- or disc-type of patterns
comparisons between theoretical and associated with wide blades, then it seems
practical results in the case of the propeller incorrect to conclude that these are likely
blade lies in the complex nature of the to cause singing, as this phenomenon has
constructions particularly when the change not, in the past, been associated with
of blade angle due to pitch is included. wide-bladed screwsfor example, there is
It is considered that theoretical calculations no record of singing with destroyer
can only give a very rough guide to the propellers of high disc-area ratio.
frequencies of higher modes and that in
the final analysis recourse must be had to The difficulties which arose in connexion
experiments in order to determine these with the measurement of the vibration
- frequencies. At the same time, the inodes with this propeller were not en-
knowledge of the actual blade patterns countered in the larger propellers and the
will help very considerably in making Author would much rather- carry out these
frequency calculations. Experience to date tests on the full scale than on the model
suggests that the frequencies of built scale for this reason. In fact, some of the
propeller blades are somewhat higher than difficulty associated with the present work
those of solid propeller blades of the same was that, as we were unable to lilt a larger
eneral dimensions. This is probably due propeller, the tests had to be carried out
 PROPELLER BLADE VIBRATIONS AND UNDERWATER ?ROPELLER VIBRATION TESTS D5
on this small 4-ft. propeller. From previous
experleace it would have been very much
easier to have carried out these tests on
a .tbll-size 18-ft. propeller and, in view
of this, an attempt will be made in the near
future to carry out such a test, although it
will probably mean removing one side of
the tank in order to get the propeller
into 'position.
It is not correct to say that the model
blades are more easy to excite than the
full-size propeller.
With regard to the suggestion that strain
gauges should be fitted to determine the
singing vibrations in service, it appears
to. the Author that this, apart from the
difficulties associated with the slip-rings
HUGHES'S Reply
Reply to Mr. Hunter
Mr. Harry Hunter justly oliserves that
the vibrations studied by both Prof. Burrill
and myself are produced under very different
conditions from those which obtain in
service, the most obvious difference being
that the notes produced experimentally are
of necessity comparatively pure, since they
consist alnost entirely of'ibrations of one
particular frequency only. This observa-
tion holds good even in the case of mOde
Cl 0, its distressing natufe being due to its
piercing intensiry at a frequency 'to vhich
the Car is apparently sensitive, rather than
to any discord between notes of different
frequencies. However, if desired, it should
be a relatively simple matter to simulate
to some degree the discordancy which
appears in actual singing by exciting a
single blade simultaneously at two or more
points from separate oscillators operating
at different frequencies. I think that there
can be little doubt that this is the case in
practice, i.e. the blade vibrates in a corn-
binatioñ Of several modes.
With reference to the use of rubber in-
tail-shaft bearings, it is to be expected that
the damping capacity of such material
would be sufficient to reduce materially the
amplitude of vibration of modes which
involve motion at the propeller boss. But
I am at a loss to. understand the occurrence
of the high-pitched squeal which occurred
when the engines were stopped, unless
perhaps it was caused by the excitation of
some form of "reactionless" diaphragm
mode due to. violent eddying action round
the edges of the trailing blades. With
Prof Burrill, I incline to the view that blade
necessary for such work, would not give
any conclusive information about the type
of vibration or the corresponding blade
patterns, and that from the point of view
of investigating the singing phenomenon,
the, strain-gauge technique is of doubtful
value. As will be seen from Mr. Boggis's
photograph, included in the present
discussion, we have already obtained some
measurements of the logarithmic, damping
by fitting a strain gauge to the blade of a
vibrating propeller, but no information
could be obtained in this way about the
blade pattern excited. It appears to. me
that more is to be learned from -an analysis
of the noises made by singing propellers,
and this subject is being puñued whenever
possible.
vibration causes bearing trouble and not,
except in very bad cases, vice versa.
I find it hard to agree with Mr. Hunter's
suggestion that the exciting forces may be
produced 'by the collapse of vortices coming
downstream to the propeller. It is difficult
to visualize any projection or other unfair-
ness in a modern hull form sufficiently
serious to set up spinning velocities great
enough to produce vapour- or air-filled
cavities capable of causing serious impacts
by their collapse. Vortices of this kind
may, of course, originate from the blade
tips themselves when tip cavitation occurs,
but photographs of propellers operating
under these conditions show . that these
vortices.are definitely not cut by the succeed-
ing blades..
On -the other hand I do suiport Mr.
Hunter's suggestion that the time 'has come
for the experimental investigation of the
more difficult aspect of the question, that
.of the "clapper." The types of vibration
which can and do occur in propeller blades
are by now fairly well established under
experimental conditions, and there is little
point in pushing this side of the investiga-
tion very far ahead until we know which of
such types do occur under the exciting
forces of actual operation and under the
conditions of support and external environ-
ment which do occur in relation to a work-
ing screw. Presumably the experiments
that Prof. Burrill has in mind will first
consist of studying the types of, vibration
that can be excited in a stationary propeller
in position on 'a floating vessel. This may
well bedone by the aid of the techniques
 b66 PROPELLER BLAbE VIBRATIONS AND tJNDERWATER IR0PELLER VIBRATION TESTS
which he has already deve1oed. For the
far more difficult job of studying the vibra-
tions of a rotating propeller there appear
to be two alternatives :-
(a) The use of a strategically disposed
network of strain gauges as has been
widely employed in aircraft work..
(b) The analysis of propeller noise into
-. its variotis components by acoustical
- -methods.
-. In either case, the experimental difficulties
will apparently be very great.
Reply to Dr. Richardion
I am grateful to Dr. Richardson for his
Eeference to Mallock's work on the influence
of gas bubbles on the damping of vibrations
in water. My own. deductions from
Mallock's paper differ somewhat from those
of Dr. Richardson. and are in accord with
the ideas put fOrward by Dr. Lockwood
Taylor in the written discussion and by
myself in the verbal discussion of the paper.
In my opinion the bubbles do noV absorb
energy by virtue of their vibration per se,
but they do, by permitting considerable
distortion ,of the surrounding water under
the action of the high pressures to which
Dr. Lockwood Taylor refers, cause large
lOsses in the water due to the conversion of
energy into heat by viscous shearing. In
the absence of bubbles there is little change
of shape of elements of fluid near the blad&
surface, but when bubbles are present, the
difference in elasticity between water and
air produces violent velocity gradients in
the water in the- neighbourhood of each
bubble. The smaller -the bubble size, the
higher these gradients will be, and hence the
greater will be the energy loss per unit
volume of water affected. Thus a covering
of small (capillary) bubbles will have a
greater influence than a covering of cor-
respondingly larger bubbles. As Mr.
Bottomley suggests, the occurrçnce of such
capillary bubbles may depend upon the
texture of the blade surface : small differ-
- ences in surface finish may thus have an
important bearing on the critical nature of
singing.
- Dr. Richardson's suggestion that damp-
ing may be a function of amplitude was,
indeed, investigated during the course of
this work. If, as is sometimes asserted, the
-energy -absorbed - per- cycle per unit of
volume of vibrating material is proportional
to the cube of the cyclical stress (and-not the
-square) then the logarithmic decrement &
should be directly proportional to the
amplitude of vibration. - However, succes-
sive response curves plotted for widely
varying amplitudes for the same mode
failed to reveal any measurable difference
in the value of 6.
I 4uite agree that the actual size of tank
used will have.some bearing on the damping
values for the reasons stated by Dr.. Richard-
son, and it will be interesting to see whether
Prof. Bun-ill's proposed experiments thrpw
further light on this matter. In this
cotinexion, the true effect of tank size will
only be revealed if other extraneous losses,
e.g. the supports of the propeller, are either
completely eliminated or very carefully
controlled.
Reply to Mr. Yates -
Mr. Yates quite correctly observes that
if two natural frequencies are practically
equal the resultant response curve will be
considerably broadened, and hence the
receptive range to synchronous excitation
will be increased. Such a case actually
occurs in air with modes A4 and AS but
when these particular patterns were being
studied the technique of determining reliable
response curves had not been fully de-
veloped; hence I am unable to produce the
corresponding curve here. Within the
range of investigation no similar case was
observed under water, and so the effect was
not originally mentioned in the paper. If,
as Mr. Yates suggests, the frequency of
eddy-shedding can be pulled into step with
the vibration of the blade, there is a much
greater likelihood of a.true forced vibration
under the conditions. -
Mr. Yates demonstrates very con-
vincingly that the reason I put forward for
taking amplitude measurements at a few
cycles off resonance is in error. The fact
remains that "the proof of the pudding is
in the eating" and this was found to be
the only method of obtaining consistent
readings on widely spaced occasions.
Incidentally, it is interesting to note that
Kennelly was forced to resort to this artifice
in his explorations of telephone diaphragms.
When this programme of research was
begun, published evidence appeared to set
the upper limit of frequency in singing
propellers at about 300 cycles per second,
and so this figure was adopted. More
recent evidence shows that this value might
well have been stepped up, especially for the
blades of lower mean width ratio in which
the patterns are less complex and thus -
capable of causing considerable noise at
much higher frequencies than is the case for
the broader bladci. In the simpler patterns,
there is less cross-flow between out-of-phase
elements of blade surface, and consequently
much greater radiation Of sound energy.
Reply tO Mr. Boggis -
Mr. Boggis expresses some doubt about
the reliability of the form of the resonance
curves from which the value of 8, the
 PROPELLER BLADE VIBRATIONS AND UNDERWATER PROPELLER VIBRATION TESTS D67
logarithmic decrement, has been obtained.
As to the stability of the beat-frequency
oscillator, a four-hour run showed a gradual
frequency drift of 1 c.p.s. in 12 minutes,
which reduces to 02 c.p.s. in 15 seconds
the approximate time required to plot each
response curye. It is obvious that such a
gradual drift is unimportant. Random
variations in frequency might conceivably
have a larger effect, but nothing of this
kind was ever observed, and it is in fact
ruled out by the consistency with which
individual curves could be repeated. This
consistency also disposes of the objection as
to possible interference due to beats between
free and forced vibrationssuch beating
was observed when the frequency of excita-
tion was suddenly changed by several cycles
per second, but never when the exciting
frequency was altered slowly as. it was
during the plotting of response curves.
Mr. Boggis's photographic record of
vibration decay is interesting in that it
gives a far . higher- value for & than any
- recorded by me. (Incidentally, my own
rough measurements from this trace lead
to a value for 8 of O86, even higher than
that given by Mr. Boggis). To my mind
this indicates that considerable energy is
being dissipated in the wooden blocks on
which the propeller presumably is mounted,
this loss being accentuated by the fact that
the propeller is vibrating in a mode which,
in my experience, would involve appreciable
motion of the propeller boss. This illus-
trates two important points
That seemingly trivial losses can
exert a large bearing upon the
apparent magnitude of 8, and hence
upon the amplitude at resonance for
a given exciting force.
.That the relative strengths at reson-
ance will depend very largely upon
the type of support, which stay
account for, the difficulty experienced
by Prof. Burrill in exciting certain
modes.
Quite' conceivably, given a non-rigid
support, some modes that involve motion of
the boss may be eliminated, and it will be
most interesting to see whether this occurs
when Prof. Burrill carries out his investiga-
tions on a screw actually in position on a
floatmg ship. My own suggestion . that
sustained force' vibration is an unlikely
cause of singing was put forward "purely
on consideration of the results of this work."
Because of:the rigid nature of the blade
mounting the resonance curves were very
sharp, whereas under "actual" conditions
it is reasonable' to assume that the response
curves will in general he much broader due
.to losses caused by slight imperfections of
fit of the screw on the tailshaft and by
damping in the material of the stem-tube
bushing itself. On the other hand such
losses will not occur with the "reaction-
less" type of mode, which increases the
likeithood that these modes are-responsible
for singing in service.
Repl.v to Mr. Bottomley
I shall be interested to learn the results
of Mr. Bottomley's experiments in relation
to the influence of surface finish upon the
formation of capillary air bubbles. Presum-
ably, if such a surface is covered' with tiny
excrescences, the local water velocities may
well reach much higher values than would
be the case if the surface were smooth and
polished. Thus local pressures will be
correspondingly lower, and bubbles may
form more readily. If this effect is import-
ant it may assist in explaining the difference
as regards singing of" apparently" identi-
cal screws.
While areeing with Mr. Bottomley that
bubbles may form much more freely on the
surface of a cast-iron screw, as compared
with manganese bronze, I feel that other
factors are also of great importance in
accounting for the almost completeabsence
of singing with cast-iron propellers. 'Of
these, the most important - are increased
blade stiffnesses and higher internal damp-
ing.
On the subject of surface finish, it may
be well to point out that, when the surface
of the model blade was painted for marking-
out purposes at one stage, it was found .that
air bubbles adhered much snore firmly than
was the case with the usual polished metallic
surface. This is of interest because, in the
discussion on Mr. Hunter's 1937 paper,
Sir Amos Ayre reported the cure of a
singing propeller by frequent applications
of paint
Like Mr. Bottomley, I was surprised that
de-oxidation of the water was sufficient to
suppress bubble formation, in view of the
preponderance of nitrogen in the dissolved
air. It may be that the presence of oxygen
is necessary to initiate bubble formation,
but this is a surmise only.
Reply to Mr. Dell'
Mr. Dell suggests the use of two pickups
to assist in the delineation of the nodal
lines. 'This scheme would be workable but
would not overcome the appearance of an
elliptical signal at the "nodes" in the
presence of damping, which is; if I-under-
statid Mr. Dell aught, the reason for the
suggestion. The reasons for this elliptical
signal are set out more fully in the reply to
Dr. Lockwood Tayldr, from which it will
be, seen that a signal of zero height is
impossible in a system containing damping.
D68 PROPELLER BLADE VIBRATIONS AND UNDERWATER PROPELLER VIBRATION TESTS
The proposed arrangement would, it is
true, remove the small phase difference due
to imperfection of electromagnetic coupling
between magnet and blade, but even so the
resulting signal for a given position of the
exploring probe will not necessarily become
a straight line, whether the probe is on a
"node" or not. The reason for this is the
same progressive phase shift between
successive particles which prevents the
occurrence Of true nodes when damping is
present. Thus, with no damping, points
on opposite sides of a node will be exactly
180 deg. out of phase; with damping, this
difference will be somewhat less than 180
deg. depending upon the amount of damp-
ing present and upon the relative positions
of the points considered. To illustrate this
more clearly a useful analogy may be
drawn from the usual standard diagram for
a single degree of freedom system in which
the phase difference between exciting force
and motion of the body is plotted against
the ratio , exciting frequency natural
frequency. Values of correspond with
positions of the pick-up, and the particular
value = 1 can be regarded asrepresenting
the nodal line. With no damping there is
a sudden change of phase of 180 deg. as
the value z=1 (the node) is crossed: with
damping prerent there is a gradual change
of phase, the total change being always less
than 180 deg. for values of on opposite
sides of = 1 (the node).
Reply to Dr. Shannon
My thanks are due to Dr. Shannon for
his highly complimentary remarks on the
conduet of the work and the presentation
of the results. As is well known, Dr.
Shannon and his former colleagues support
very strongly the theory that the sharpening
of the blade edges is beneficial because of
the increased hydrodynamic damping intro-
duced by turbulent flow round the sharp
edge., Before agreeing entirely with this
idea, I prefer to await comparative measure-
ments of damping on an actual blade form
with and without sharp edges. Unfortu-
nately, I shall,not be able to carry onwith
this work myself,. but I have no doubt that
it could be undertaken by either Prof.
Burrill or Dr. van Lammeren. I have
certainly been unable to detect any differ-
ence in the pattern of vibration amplitudes
with and without sharp edges, but I have
not made any reliable comparison of the
dathping values mentioned above.
Reply to Mr. Sili'erleaf
I feel that there is little point in giving
the ratios of calculated frequencies as
requested by Mr. Silverleat for the following
resons. The Galerkin method, which was
employed, proved particularly cumbersome
fi* this extreme form of cantilever, especial-
ly for the higher frequencies, with the result
that reasonable approximations were ob-
tained only for the first and second modes
in torsion and flexure. Moreover, there
were calculated for a somewhat idealized
blade in the interests of. mathematical
accuracy and assumptions were made which
definitely break down in the more complex
modes. Added to which, in the lower
modes, perfect fixity of the blade root is
most difficult to obtain experimentally. All
in all, I feel that to quote the results would
only create unnecessary confusion in any
attempt to correlate them with the experi-
mentally determined frequencies.
The point raised .by Mr Silverleaf as to
the dependence of the added mass effect on
the absolute value of frequency is one which
can only be satisfactorily settled by experi-
ments on geometrically similar models.
Personally, I should expect the effect to be
small. In the case of the clamped circular
disc considered by Lamb, mathematical
analysis shows that the added jmlss effect
is quite independent of frequency. How-
ever, in the case of a propeller blade the
effect of the free edges must be taken into
account, and may prove to have some effect
on the above result.
it is not quite correct to say that my
results show a variation of entrained water
effect with frequency independent of the
mode of vibration: in some cases this is
approximately correct, but in othdrs it is
wide of the mark, as for instance in patterns
A4 and A5 which reveal a marked difference
in entrained-water effect at practically the
same frequency for reasons suggested on
p. 277 of the paper. The fact that the
added mass does decrease with increase in
frequency of vibration of a given blade is
due to the increasing complexity of the
vibration pattern and not to the effect of
frequency itself.
On the other hand, considering the same
type of vibration in different blades, Mr.
Silverleaf has no doubt observed the
following values for the secondary torsiOnal
mode:
TABLE 6
Blade.. ..A AB B BC C
Frequency in Air 550 670 845 945 1165
Frequency in
Water .. 395 500 635 720 915
Fw
.072 O74 Ø75 076 078
F4
At first sight these values lend support to
the idea of dependence of added mass on
frequency independent of mode of vibra-
tion. However, other factors are respon-
sible for the greater part of this effect
(i) As the blade becomes narrower, the
adjoining antiphase regions move
closer together, thus causing in-
 PROPELLER BLADE VIBRATIONS AND UNDERWATER PROPELLER VIBRATION TESTS D69

creased cross-flow and decreased causes.a definite small vertical signal result-
added inertia. ing in the narrow óllipse mentioned in. the
(ii) The blade sections become relatively paper.
thicker and hence the energy of blade
vibration, for a given amplitude, is Reply to Dr. van Lammerea
a relatively greater fraction of the
total energy of blade and entrained It is most interesting to learn that Dr.
water. - van Lammeren has been studying and curing
Both these effects produce a reduction in singing-propeller models in the cavitation
added-mass effect. My own idea is that, tunnel at Wageningen. I 'fully agree, that
with complete geometrical similarity, the work on such model scale can be of the
added-mass effect -will be practically greatest impOrtance, and would suggestthat,
constant and independent of frequency, i.e. if the epetimental difficulties could be
of model size. In comparing published satisfactorily overcome, mUch-useful infor-
values of the ratio of frequency in water to mation could be obtained from the use of
frequency in air for blade of similar outline, the strain gauge technique under Such
care must be taken to ensure that cornpkte conditions.
geometrical similarity is' maintained, i.e. Since presumably there was no upstream
that the blade-thickness fraction remains obstruction- in the cases referred to by Dr.
constant. Naturally the added-mass effect van Lammeren, it seems most likely that
will be greater the thinner, the blade sections. the vibrations were caused by excitation
from eddies leaving the blade edges.
Reply to Dr. Lockwood Taylor Elsewhere I have stated that I consider
I am surprised to learn that Dr. Lock- this form of excitation most unlikely for
wood Taylor is sceptical regarding the effect a working screw because of the variability
of damping in eliminating nodal lines. This of the wake in which it operates. This
is such a fundamental, conception that I objection does not hold in the stéadr flow
think it unnecessary to go into great detail conditions of a tunnel and so it is conceiv-
on the matter, but by way of illustration I able that such excitation would be effective
would refer Dr. Lockwood Taylor to an even if the response curve at resonance is
still comparatively narrow. It would be
article by den Hartog in the Journal of interesting to learn the effect of placing
Applied Mechanics (December 1946) on the something in the way of a model hull ahead
subject of "Forced Torsional Oscillations of the screw, but presumably this would be
with Damping." This treatment clearly most difficult to arrange.
shows that, in the presence of damping,
nodes are replaced by regions of minimum Perhaps my remarks on the effect of
amplitude. Dr. Lockwood Taylor seems cavitation on singing would have been
to be confused between the terms "dis-' better expressed thus: "it is unlikely that
placement" and "amplitude ". Certainly singing will occur in a blade which is
displacements may be referred to as positive operating at the same time under cavitation
or negative, but the phrase "negative conditions." This is,.of course, what I
amplitude" is quite meaningless. Con- intended to convey for, as Dr. van Lam-
sidering the displaced form of a vibrating meren points out, it is quite possible that.a
member in the neighbourhood of a node' screw may both cavitate and sing, but at
at a given instant the displacement changes different revolutions. In any case the effect
from positive to negative, passing naturally is naturally one of degree, and the fact that
through zero at a definite point. At a small patches of local cavitation erosion do
subsequent instant, however, the point of occur in singing propellers does not affect
zero displacement has shifted slightly due the validity of my remarks on the general
to the progressive phase shift between the influence of cavitation on singing. For
displacements of successive particles occa- bubbles to be most effective in damping out
sioned by damping, and the original point vibration they should occur in the neigh-
of no displacement now has a definite bourhood of an antinode of the mode under
(small) displacement from its equilibrium considerationfor instance, if cavitation
position and indeed it continues with time produces bubbles roughly along a circum-
to vibrate with a definite (small) amplitude. ferential nodal line (as occurs in the case of
If we define a node as a point of zero secondary torsion) there will be little effect
displacement, it becomes merely an instant- on this mode of vibration. Hence my
aneous conception: if, as is customary in rider, " especially in the fully developed
vibration work, it is regarded as a point of sheet condition," under which all possible
zero amplitude, then, with damping present, antinodes would be bubble-covered.
"there is no such animal." Dr. van Lamnieren's success in curing
These considerations explain what hap- singing by sharpening of the blade edges is
pens when the pick-up traverses a nodal most interesting in view of the controversy
line. Instead of the horizontal straight line which has existed in this country as to the
which would appear at the true node in the efficacy and the desirability of this method.
absence of damping, the residual amplitude The cure of fifteen "singers" in succession

13
D70 PROPELLER BLADE VIBRATIONS AND UNDERWATER PROPELLER VIBRATION TESTS
certainly shows the method to be a very
powerful one, assuming of course that the
propellers were of different designs and not
merely filteen off the same drawing. The
type of sharpened edge appears to be fairly
robust, and no more susceptible to damage
than a normal thin trailing edge, especially
if, as appears to be the case in at least two
examples, success can be attained by
sharpening the trailing edge only. Person-
ally, I should be grateful if Dr. van
Lammeren could let me have a sketch
showing an actual trailing edge beiore and
after sharpening: from his diagram for the
case of back sharpening only it appears that
very little material indeed has been removed,
but the change of profile on a screw of the
B-series with (normally) thickened trailing
edge is no doubt much more pronounced.
ERRATUM
P. 274, second line: For "J. Stone and Sons" read "J. Stone & Co. Ltd."
I-
if,
As Dr. van Larnin.ren observes, it is
perhaps unfortunate that there has not been
closer liaison between investigators of this
problem. For my own part the work
simply had to be more or less independent
and seli-contained as it was required for
a degree thesis, but I feel that professional
work on the subject could well be more
closely co-ordinated, especially with refer-
ence to the division of labour between
model and full-scale work. At the same
time, I agree with Prof. Burrill about the
reassuring effect of similar results from
independent sources. Unfortunately it
appears unlikely that further work on the
subject will be conducted in the near future
at Oxford, my own work being isolated and
not part of a long-term research programme
of the Engineering Department.