Position of Prop On A Submarine

[himszy]

Hi,

How does having a propellor on the front of a submarine effect its performance? I presume it must in some way as I've never seen a military submarine like this.....

Thanks

Michael

[novagator]

with the propellor in the

with the propellor in the front, you have the wash over the hull, defeating the flow design of the hull. I think it would be greatly inefficient and noisey.

[koeze]

I think you could compare

I think you could compare it with a car with its wheels on the roof.

Erik Jan

[raalst]

military submarine vessels are subjected

military submarine vessels are subjected to evolution ]http://www.subcommittee.com/forum/icon_wink.gif[/img]

presenting a noisy prop while advancing on the waiting
enemy gives the vessel a slight disadvantage in the
survival of the fittest.

But, in all fairness the Bushnell turtle *did* have one in front !

[feet wet]

Interstingly, the Queen Mary 2

Interstingly, the Queen Mary 2 has four pods driving her, 2 fixed and 2 azimuthing. All 4 have tractor props, ie forward of the pods. Also, Volvo recently issued a similar drive system for installation on small boats, It too has forward facing props.
'course aprop in such a position would make torpedoe firing a challenge,

[himszy]

Thanks for the replies, but

Thanks for the replies, but surely having a forward facing prop is different to having a prop at the front of a vessel????

Michael

[elec_tech]

Where is this going Michael?????

Where is this going Michael?????

[fung pang]

will this help, find this

will this help, find this rc sub in a japanese site.

http://homepage2.nifty.com/HIRAO/707-jr-hayasi.htm

fung pang

[Guest]

I think you could compare

I think you could compare it with a car with its wheels on the roof.

Erik Jan

But planes have props at the front, its not so stupid a question

[Guest]

I think you'll find it's

I think you'll find it's more efficient to have a prop at the back. Same for planes too, but then getting the c.g right on an aeroplane would be difficult with the engine at the back (unless it's a canard).

Look at nature- fish would have flippers on the front if it was better.

Andy

[himszy]

Erik,

If you think about it,

Erik,

If you think about it, a submarine could run with a prop at the front, it is just a case of how well. Whereas a car wouldn't run with its wheels on the top.

Dan,

I was just wondering why props aren't at the front of a sub. It's in my subpirates post........

Fung pang,

Thanks for the link.

Andy,

Good point about the fish but, sometimes nature will take the more practical route than the most efficient. For example if you look at how an arm works, the muscle is close to the pivot. It would be more efficient to have it on your wrist or even at the tip of your middle finger, but it just wouldn't be practical.

Michael

[Guest]

Nothing man made can come

Nothing man made can come close to the efficiency of nature.

It's always wise to look at how nature does things before building a mechanism.

A fish is an elegant swimming organism, many fish swim using their pectral fins only, and use their tail as a rudder. These tend to be coral based fish- the pectrals clearly give better control in the tight corals, than using the undulating motion of a tail for propulsion, but they don't provide speed.

Andy