Shedding Mechanism

Related terms:

Cavitation, Vortex Shedding, Cams, Looms, Propellers, Strouhal Number, Face

Cavitation, Heald Shaft

View all Topics

Advanced weaving technologies for

high-performance fabrics
X. Gong, ... Y. Zhou, in High-Performance Apparel, 2018

Shedding
The shedding mechanism separates the warp threads into two sheets (layers) by
lifting some of the heald shafts up whilst lowering others. Since each warp yarn from
the weaver's beam passes through an eye of the heald shaft, when some of the heald
shafts are lifted and lowered by a shedding mechanism, the corresponding warp
ends are raised or lowered thus forming an opening. When this happens, a shed is
formed and the next primary mechanism, “picking,” can commence. A shed can be
formed by different types of shedding mechanisms such as crank, tappet, dobby,
and jacquard. The minimum number of heald shafts required to form a shed is two.
When the number of heald shafts being used is more than two, whether a shaft is
lifted or lowered is decided by the weave structure of the fabric being woven on the
particular loom.

> Read full chapter

The fundamentals of weaving technolo-

gy
K.L. Gandhi, in Woven Textiles, 2012
5.2.1 Shedding
The shedding mechanism separates the warp threads into two sheets (layers) by
lifting some of the heald shafts up whilst lowering others. Since each warp yarn
from the weaver’s beam passes through an eye of the heald shaft, when some of the
heald shafts are lifted and lowered by a shedding mechanism, the corresponding
warp ends are raised or lowered thus forming an opening. When this happens, we
say a shed is formed and the next primary mechanism, ‘picking’, can commence. A
shed can be formed by different types of shedding mechanisms such as tappet, cam,
dobby and jacquard. The minimum number of heald shafts required to form a shed
is two. When the number of heald shafts being used is more than two, whether a
shaft is lifted or lowered is decided by the weave structure of the fabric being woven
on the particular loom. On a table loom, the shed is made by lifting the heald shafts
manually by hand, whilst on a simple hand loom it is generally made by depressing
the treadle levers (Fig. 5.1(b)).

> Read full chapter

Interwoven fabrics and their applica-

tions
X. Chen, in Specialist Yarn and Fabric Structures, 2011

Layer separation
Let us consider a multi-layered fabric that has n layers. When a pick for the ith layer (1
< i < n) is to be inserted into the shed for fabric formation, the shedding mechanism
will have to lift all warp ends for the above (i – 1) layers, whereas the warp ends for
layers (i + 1) to n will be at the lower level of the shed. To reflect that in the weave
design paper, when inserting a pick for the ith layer, warp ends for all the layers
above must be made above this pick by adding a mark in the relevant grid in the
weave design paper. Such marks are called lifters represented by forward slash
in this context. Based on the principle, lifters are added to the weave diagram in
Figure 8.19(b), which represent the weave for the three-layered fabric.

> Read full chapter

Design and design elements

Sadhan Chandra Ray, in Fundamentals and Advances in Knitting Technology, 2012

8.5.2 Pegged drum

The pegged drum method is a simple and effective mechanism of needle selection.
The replaceable pegs fitted on the pattern drum surface work directly on the jacks,
like the pegs acting on a feeler in a dobby shedding mechanism of loom. The
drum can be racked clockwise or anti-clockwise or can be kept stationary in a
pre-determined manner.

The drum is mounted outside the needle cylinder. It has vertical columns of holes in
which metal pegs are inserted according to the pattern. Each column corresponds
to a course. The jacks in the cylinder have butts at height corresponding with each
horizontal row of pegs in the drum. If there is a peg in the drum at the height of
the butt, the jack is pushed into the machine trick so that the needle supported by
the jack is not raised to knit by auxiliary jack which moves up by a cam. If, however,
there is no peg present, the needle along with the corresponding jack is raised up by
the auxiliary jack and will knit. The design width is equal to the number of different
levels of jack butts in the machine. New knitting machines are not coming in the
market with such facility.

> Read full chapter

3D woven structures and methods of

manufacture
M. Amirul Islam, in Woven Textiles, 2012

3D looms
A few companies have developed 3D looms [21,22,24–26]. Mohamed et al. [21] and
3Tex [22] have developed 3D looms. Figure 9.56 [21] shows the filling insertion from
both sides. The warp fibers are fed either from bobbins positioned on a creel or from
beams. They are separated into layers to allow for fill insertion. These warp layers are
fixed open to form sheds without shedding mechanism.
9.56. Filling insertion by needles from both sides [21].

According to Mohamed et al. [21], the warp ends are not required to be drawn
through the heddles of the shedding mechanism, leading to less fiber damage
during weaving. Multiple fill yarns or fibers can be inserted through the sheds (layers)
by needles or rapiers from both sides simultaneously or alternately according to
cross sectional shapes. The filling is inserted from one side in a regular needle loom
[19].

Several needles (rapiers) containing double fill fibers are inserted horizontally
through the layers in one motion as shown in Fig. 9.56. The fill fibers are temporarily
held on the opposite side by a vertical selvedge needle. The rapiers are then with-
drawn to their original position leaving a set of double fill fibers. The Z fibers are
fed into the machine parallel with the warp and separated into two layers controlled
by the harness movement. When the bottom Z fiber layer is moved to the top and
the top Z fiber layer is moved to the bottom achieved by crossing the harnesses, a
vertical fiber is added. A reed is brought forward for a beat up. The selvedge needles
are lowered and the structure is moved corresponding to the pick spacing. The reed
is moved back and the entire cycle is repeated.

Mohamed et al. [21] also developed a 3D loom where the warp (0°) fiber, the fill
(90°) fiber, Z fiber and +/− bias fibers can be inserted. The bias fibers can only be
positioned on the front and back faces of the 3D preform.

In Fig. 9.56, 1 denotes filling lock and selvedge lock, 2 shows filling insertion, 3
shows selvedge needles, 4 shows selvedge hold rod, 5 shows beat up, 6 & 7 show
filling tension I & II, 8 shows loop forming rods, 9 shows selvedge latch needles, and
10 & 11 show harnesses. 3Tex [22] has built a commercial 3D loom. The number of
layers is limited to 14 as reported in [23]. Bally Ribbon Mills [5] is producing panels
with 61 warp layers. It can go up to 81 warp layers.

Biteam [4,24] has developed a 3D loom where shedding can be formed in both
horizontal and vertical positions. In a conventional weaving machine, the interlace-
ment occurs between the two orthogonal sets of yarns, the warp and the fill. It does
not produce the interlacement of three sets of orthogonal yarns. Biteam’s loom
provides a dual directional shedding method to form sheds in the column-wise
and the row-wise directions of a multi-layer warp to enable interlacement of the
multi-layer warp and two orthogonal sets of fill. Figure 9.57 [24] shows the preferred
arrangement of the heddles in the harness frames for carrying out dual-directional
shedding. In Figure 9.57 [24], 1 and 2 represent two mutually perpendicular harness
frames, 3 shows heddle wire, 4ne and 4se denote heddle eyes, and 5 shows an
opening created by the superimposition of harness frames 1 and 2, including the
superimposed heddle eyes (4se); an end of multilayer warp yarn (6) is drawn through.
All warp ends (6) will be disposed in columns ‘A through I’ and rows ‘a through i’. The
warp ends (6), which are labeled (6p), constitute the stationary or passive warp ends,
and the warp ends (6), which are labeled (6a), constitute the movable or the active
warp ends. The Weave architecture is shown in Fig. 9.58 [6].

9.57. Preferred arrangement of heddles in the harness frames for dual-directional

shedding [24].
9.58. Weave architecture of 3D fabric [6].

The vertical fills and horizontal fills are inserted into the created sheds of multi-layer
warp. The warp fibers interlace with two sets of filling, thus creating an interlaced
woven 3D fabric. The 3D fabric produced by this method may be cut into any desired
shape without the risk of splitting, but the resulting structures have crimped fibers
in all three directions. The fibers are likely to be damaged to a high extent due to
dual shedding mechanisms. It is highly desirable for composite reinforcements to
minimize the fiber damage.

Uchida et al. [25] developed a three-dimensional weaving machine including an

improved bias yarn feeding apparatus as an integral part. Figure 9.59 [25] shows a
side view of the 3D weaving machine. Figure 9.60 [25] shows a schematic perspective
view showing a specific configuration of a 3D woven fabric produced by the 3D
weaving machine. In Fig. 9.59 [25], the warp X, bias yarns B1 and B2, and vertical yarn
Z are fed from each beam and guided to a frame (5) through a dancer roller and a split
guide (6) in a cloth fell section (7). Y shows the filling (weft) between the warp layers.
A filling insertion mechanism inserts the fill between the warp layers and outside the
set of two biased yarn layers. The vertical yarns Z are inserted from top and bottom by
(9A) and (9B). A press (10) is used on the downstream side of the cloth fell section (7).
The 3D woven fabric (W) passes through a woven fabric shape retention section (11)
and is wound around a fabric winding section (12). Short Brothers plc of Northern
Ireland, part of Bombardier Aerospace, developed a narrow weaving machine [26]
called five axis weaving to produce spatially reinforced composites (SpaRC). These
spatially reinforced composites are designed to have fiber tows oriented in five axes,
0°, 90°, ± 45°, and Z directions. A preform with one layer of ± 45° was woven on
this loom. Quinn et al. [27] shows that, by increasing the amount of Z fibers in 3D
orthogonal structures, the damage area after impact was reduced and low crimp,
multi-axis, multi-layer woven structures offer improved damage tolerance.
9.59. Side view schematically showing 3D weaving machine [25].

9.60. View of 3D fabric produced by 3D weaving machine [25].

> Read full chapter

Vibration Induced by Cross-Flow

In Flow Induced Vibrations, 2008
Study on the feedback mechanism
It is well known that acoustic resonance in tube bundles is induced by the vor-
tex/acoustics interaction. Many researchers, including Y.N. Chen [133] and R.D.
Blevins [156], have studied this phenomenon. Figure 2.36 shows the basic mecha-
nism. In the stable state, the acoustic pressure is low and has random characteristics
in time and space. In this state, the vortex shedding frequency is unique but is
not synchronized in space as shown in Fig. 2.36(a). On the other hand, under
the resonance conditions, the acoustic mode generates high level synchronized
pressure fluctuations, thus affecting the vortex shedding mechanism in two ways:
first, the vortex strength is increased; second, the correlation length of vortex shed-
ding (region of vortex shedding synchronization) is expanded in three dimensions.
Synchronization of vortex shedding occurs between adjacent tubes or any two points
along the tube axis.

Fig. 2.36. View showing vortex-acoustic interaction: (a) stable, and (b) resonance.

The study of this phenomenon is fundamentally based on the idea shown in Fig.
2.37. The acoustic excitation force is regarded as a reaction fluid force acting on the
tube. Therefore, introducing a sinusoidal fluctuation to the flow field and evaluating
the phase relation between the flow fluctuation and the fluid force on the tube,
it is possible to evaluate the stability of this system. A number of publications are
based on this idea. Refs. [156–160] adopt the experimental approach while Ref. [160]
is based on numerical simulations. Tanaka et al., derived the stability estimation
formula [161]. A representative experimental apparatus is shown in Fig. 2.38 [158,
159]. The apparatus is set up in a water channel. A sinusoidal fluctuation (U) is
introduced to the uniform flow (V). The force acting on the tube is measured and,
based on the phase relationship between the force and fluctuating flow, stability
evaluation is achieved.
Fig. 2.37. Feed back mechanism between flow and acoustic field.

Fig. 2.38. Experimental setup for stability evaluation by forced water-flow fluctuation
[159].

In order to apply this method to the anti-resonance design of heat exchangers,

there are many issues to be resolved. These include correlation length effect, of
accumulation for various types of tube configurations, evaluation of acoustic energy
dissipation due to radiation at duct inlet and exit, and absorption on duct walls.

> Read full chapter

Vibration Induced by Cross-Flow

In Flow-induced Vibrations (Second Edition), 2014

2.5.2.1.3 Studies on the feedback mechanism

It is well-known that acoustic resonance in tube bundles is induced by the vor-
tex/acoustics interaction. Many researchers, including Chen [99] and Blevins [158],
have studied this phenomenon. Figure 2.36 shows the basic mechanism. In the
stable state, the acoustic pressure is low and has random characteristics in time and
space. In this state, the vortex shedding frequency is unique but is not synchronized
in space as shown in Fig. 2.36(a). On the other hand, under the resonance conditions,
the acoustic mode generates high-level synchronized pressure fluctuations, thus
affecting the vortex shedding mechanism in two ways: first, the vortex strength
is increased; second, the correlation length of vortex shedding (region of vortex
shedding synchronization) is expanded in three dimensions. Synchronization of
vortex shedding occurs between adjacent tubes or any two points along the tube
axis.
Figure 2.36. View showing vortex–acoustic interaction: (a) stable, and (b) resonance.

The study of this phenomenon is fundamentally based on the idea shown in Fig.
2.37. The acoustic excitation force is regarded as a reaction fluid force acting on the
tube. Therefore, introducing a sinusoidal fluctuation to the flow field and evaluating
the phase relation between the flow fluctuation and the fluid force on the tube, it
is possible to evaluate the stability of this system. A number of publications are
based on this idea. Refs. [158–162] adopt the experimental approach while Ref.
[162] is based on numerical simulations. Tanaka et al. have also derived a stability
estimation formula [163]. A representative experimental apparatus is shown in Fig.
2.38 [160,161]. The apparatus is setup in a water channel. A sinusoidal fluctuation
(U) is introduced to the uniform flow (V). The force acting on the tube is measured
and, based on the phase relationship between the force and fluctuating flow, stability
evaluation is achieved.

Figure 2.37. Feed-back mechanism between flow and acoustic field.

Figure 2.38. Experimental setup for stability evaluation by forced water-flow fluctu-
ation [158].

In order to apply this method to the anti-resonance design of heat exchangers,

there are many issues to be resolved. These include correlation length effect; data
accumulation for various types of tube configurations; evaluation of acoustic energy
dissipation due to radiation at duct inlet and exit; and absorption on duct walls.
> Read full chapter

Propeller blade vibration

JS Carlton, in Marine Propellers and Propulsion (Second Edition), 2007

21.7 Propeller singing

Singing is a troublesome phenomenon that affects some propellers, and its inci-
dence on a particular design is unpredictable within the bounds of present analysis
capabilities. It is quite likely that, and indeed known, that two propellers can be
manufactured to the same design and one propeller will sing whilst the other will
not.

Singing can take many forms ranging from a deep sounding grunting noise through
to a high-pitched warbling noise such as might be expected from an incorrectly
set turning operation on a lathe. The deeper “grunting” noise is most commonly
associated with the larger vessels such as bulk carriers, and in general the faster and
smaller the propeller the higher the frequency will be. The noise may be intermittent
or may have an apparent period of about once per revolution, most frequently the
latter. Furthermore, it is unlikely that singing will occur throughout the whole range
of propeller loading but will occur only within certain specific revolution ranges.
There is the classic example in this respect of some controllable pitch propellers
which, when working at slightly reduced pitch settings, will sing for a short period
of time.

The phenomenon of propeller singing has inspired many researchers to investigate

the problem, much of this work being done in the 1930sand 1940s for example
References 9 to 15. Today singing is generally believed to be caused by a vortex
shedding mechanism in the turbulent and separated part of the boundary layer on
the blade surface exciting the higher-mode frequencies of the blade and particularly
those associated with blade edge modes. As a consequence, it is not possible at
this time to predict the conditions for the onset of singing in a propeller design
procedure or indeed whether a particular design will be susceptible to the singing
phenomenon. In addition to the theoretical complexity of the problem, the practical
evidence from propellers manufactured to the same design and specification, one
of which sings whilst the others do not, leads to the conclusion that small changes
in dimensional tolerances are sufficient, given the appropriate circumstances, to
induce singing.

Although prediction of singing inception is not possible, the cure of the phenome-
non is normally not difficult; indeed some manufacturers incorporate the cure as
a standard feature of their design whilst others prefer not to take this measure so
as not to weaken the edges of the blade. The cure is to introduce a chamfer to the
trailing edge of the blade and to ensure that the knuckle of the chamfer and trailing
edge wedge, points a, b and c in Figure 21.9, are sharp. The purpose of this edge
form is to deliberately disrupt the boundary layer growth in the trailing edge region
and hence alleviate the effects of the vortex shedding mechanism. Van Lammeren,
in the discussion to Reference 1, suggests that the dimensions of an anti-singing
edge can be calculated from

Figure 21.9. Anti-singing edge design

(21.10)

where D is the propeller diameter in metres and where the parameters are defined
in Figure 21.9. The anti-singing edge is normally defined between the geometric
tip of the propeller and a radial location of around 0.4R on the trailing edge, where
it is then faired into the normal edge detail. The anti-singing edge is applied to
the suction surface of the blade; there are, however, some anti-singing edge forms
which are applied to both sides of the blade at the trailing edge. These latter forms
are less frequently used since the flow on the suction face of the blade, because it
separates earlier, is the most likely cause of the singing problem. Edge forms of the
type shown in Figure 21.9 do not cause any particular power absorption problems
since, although modifying the trailing edge after the manner shown in Chapter 23,
the anti-singing edge operates wholly within the separated flow in the wake of the
blade section.

It has been found that on occasions with highly skewed propellers it is necessary to
extend the anti-singing edge forward by a small amount from the geometric tip onto
the leading edge of the blade in order to cure a singing problem. This extension,
however, should be done with caution so as not to introduce unwanted cavitation
problems due to the sharpened leading edge which results. When this extension of
the anti-singing edge has been found necessary the cure of the singing problem has
been completely satisfactory.

> Read full chapter

Propeller Blade Vibration

J.S. Carlton FREng, in Marine Propellers and Propulsion (Third Edition), 2012

21.7 Propeller Singing

Singing is a troublesome phenomenon that affects some propellers and its incidence
for a particular design is unpredictable within the bounds of present analysis capa-
bilities. It is quite likely, and indeed known, that two propellers can be manufactured
to the same design and one propeller will sing while the other will not.

Singing may take many forms, ranging from a deep grunting noise through to
a high-pitched warbling noise such as might be expected from an incorrectly set
turning operation on a lathe. The deeper ‘grunting’ noise is most commonly as-
sociated with larger vessels such as bulk carriers and, in general terms, the faster
rotating and smaller the propeller, the higher the singing frequency will be. The
noise may be intermittent or may have an apparent period of about once per
revolution: most frequently the latter. Furthermore, it is unlikely that singing will
occur throughout the whole range of propeller loading but will occur only within
certain specific revolution ranges. The classic example in this respect is of some
controllable pitch propellers which, when working at slightly reduced pitch settings,
will sing for a short period of time. Similarly, in the case of fixed pitch propellers
when slowing down relatively quickly. Both of these examples occur when the blade
tips are relatively lightly loaded and there is some indication that propeller designs
which have significant pitch reduction at their blade tips may be more at risk of
incurring the singing phenomenon at operational speeds.

The phenomenon of propeller singing has inspired many researchers to investigate

the problem; much of this work being done in the 1930s and 1940s, for example
References 9–15. Singing is generally believed to be caused by a vortex shedding
mechanism in the turbulent and separated part of the boundary layer on the blade
surface exciting the higher-mode frequencies of the blade and particularly those
associated with blade edge modes. As a consequence, it is currently not possible to
predict the conditions for the onset of singing in a propeller design procedure or
indeed whether a particular design will be susceptible to the singing phenomenon.
In addition to the theoretical complexity of the problem, the practical evidence
from propellers manufactured to the same design and specification where one sings
whilst the others do not, leads to the conclusion that small changes in dimensional
tolerances are sufficient, given the appropriate circumstances, to induce singing.

Although prediction of singing inception is not possible, the cure of the phenome-
non is normally not difficult; indeed some manufacturers incorporate the cure as
a standard feature of their design whilst others prefer not to take this measure so as
not to weaken the trailing edges and tip region of the blade. The most commonly
used cure is to introduce a chamfer to the trailing edge of the blade and to ensure
that the knuckle of the chamfer and trailing edge wedge, points a, b and c in Figure
21.9, are sharp. The purpose of this edge form is to deliberately disrupt the boundary
layer growth in the trailing edge region and thereby alleviate the effects of the vortex
shedding mechanism. Van Lammeren, in the discussion to Reference 1, suggests
that the dimensions of an anti-singing edge can be calculated from
FIGURE 21.9. Anti-singing edge design.

(21.10)

where D is the propeller diameter in meters and where the other parameters are
defined in Figure 21.9. The anti-singing edge is normally defined between the
geometric tip of the propeller and a radial location of around 0.4R on the trailing
edge, after which point it is then faired into the normal edge detail. Anti-singing
edges of this type are applied to the suction surface of the blade; however, there are
some anti-singing edge forms which are applied to both sides of the blade at the
trailing edge. These latter forms are less frequently used since the flow on the suction
face of the blade, because it separates earlier, is the most likely cause of the singing
problem. Edge forms of the type shown in Figure 21.9 do not cause any particular
power absorption problems to arise; this is because the anti-singing edge operates
wholly within the separated flow in the wake of the blade section and, therefore,
does not operate in the manner of the power absorption modifications discussed in
Chapter 23.

It has been found that on occasions with highly skewed propellers it is necessary to
extend the anti-singing edge forward by a small amount from the geometric tip onto
the leading edge of the blade in order to cure a singing problem. This extension,
however, should be done with caution so as not to introduce unwanted cavitation
problems due to the sharpened leading edge which results. When this extension of
the anti-singing edge has been found necessary the cure of the singing problem has
been completely satisfactory.

In certain other cases of small high-speed propellers it has also been found that
some do not respond to the normal treatment for singing propellers. In such cases,
Reference 16, it has been found necessary to create a system of notches along the
trailing edge region of the propeller blades in order to effect a cure.

> Read full chapter

Propeller Blade Vibration

J.S. Carlton FREng, in Marine Propellers and Propulsion (Fourth Edition), 2019

21.7 Propeller Singing

Singing is a troublesome phenomenon that affects some propellers. It is quite likely,
and indeed known, that two propellers can be manufactured to the same design and
one propeller will sing while the other will not.
Singing may take many forms, ranging from a deep grunting noise through to a
high-pitched warbling noise such as might be expected from an incorrectly set turn-
ing operation on a lathe. The deeper “grunting” noise is most commonly associated
with larger vessels such as bulk carriers and, in general terms, the faster rotating
and smaller the propeller, the higher the singing frequency will be. The noise may
be intermittent or may have an apparent period of about once per revolution: most
frequently the latter. Furthermore, it is unlikely that singing will occur throughout
the whole range of propeller loading but will occur only within certain specific
revolution ranges. The classic example in this respect is of some controllable pitch
propellers, which, when working at slightly reduced pitch settings, will sing for a
short period of time. Similarly, in the case of fixed pitch propellers, when slowing
down relatively quickly. Both examples occurred when the blade tips were relatively
lightly loaded. Furthermore, it is known that some propellers, which have significant
pitch reduction at their blade tips, may be more at risk of incurring the singing
phenomenon at operational speeds. Similarly, with some propellers that have been
designed with straight-line trailing edges in the radial direction can also be prone to
singing.

The phenomenon of propeller singing has inspired many researchers to investigate

the problem; much of this work being done in the 1930s and 1940s (for example,
RINA, 1936; Conn, 1939; Shannon and Arnold, 1939; Davis, 1939; Kerr et al., 1940;
Hughes, 1941; Hughes, 1945). Singing is considered to be caused by a vortex
shedding mechanism in the turbulent and separated part of the boundary layer on
the blade surface exciting the higher-mode frequencies of the blade and particularly
those associated with blade edge modes. Practical evidence from propellers man-
ufactured to the same design and specification where one sings while the others
do not leads to the conclusion that small changes in dimensional tolerances are
sufficient, given the appropriate circumstances, to induce singing.

The cure of the phenomenon is normally not difficult; indeed, some manufacturers
incorporate the cure as a standard feature of their design while others prefer not to
take this measure so as not to weaken the trailing edges and tip region of the blade.
The most commonly used cure is to introduce a chamfer to the trailing edge of the
blade and to ensure that the knuckle of the chamfer and trailing edge wedge, points
a, b, and c in Fig. 21.10, are sharp. The purpose of this edge form is to deliberately
disrupt the boundary layer growth in the trailing edge region and thereby alleviate
the effects of the vortex shedding mechanism. Van Lammeren, in the discussion to
Burrill (1949), suggests that the dimensions of an antisinging edge can be calculated
from
Fig. 21.10. Antisinging edge design.

(21.10)

where D is the propeller diameter in meters and where the other parameters
are defined in Fig. 21.10. The antisinging edge is normally defined between the
geometric tip of the propeller and a radial location of around 0.4R on the trailing
edge, after which point it is then faired into the normal edge detail. Antisinging
edges of this type are applied to the suction surface of the blade; however, there
are some antisinging edge forms, which are applied to both sides of the blade at the
trailing edge. These latter forms are less frequently used since the flow on the suction
face of the blade, because it separates earlier, is the most likely cause of the singing
problem. Edge forms of the type shown in Fig. 21.10 do not cause any particular
power absorption problems to arise; this is because the antisinging edge operates
wholly within the separated flow in the wake of the blade section and, therefore,
does not operate in the manner of the power absorption modifications discussed in
Chapter 23.

In some cases involving higher speed propellers, it has also been found that some do
not respond to the normal treatments for singing propellers (Kruppa et al., 1965). In
such cases, it has been found necessary to create either a system of zigzag notches
along the trailing edge region of the propeller blades or stepped indentations to
effect a cure. These alternatives are illustrated in Fig. 21.11.

Fig. 21.11. Some other proposed cures for the singing phenomenon: (A) due to
Gutsche (1957) and (B) due to Tanner (1972).

It has also been found on occasions with highly skewed propellers that it is necessary
to extend the antisinging edge forward by a small amount from the geometric
tip onto the leading edge of the blade to cure a singing problem. This extension,
however, should be done with caution so as not to introduce unwanted cavitation
problems due to the sharpened leading edges near the blade tip. Nevertheless,
there have been some cases where even this latter antisinging edge modification
has not worked satisfactorily as a cure for the singing phenomenon and in those
cases attention has to be paid to the relationship between the bending and torsional
modes of blade vibration to effect a cure.

To illustrate the physical processes associated with the singing phenomenon, Fig.
21.12 shows a model propeller, which is singing and shows the vortices that are
being shed parallel to the trailing edge of the blade, some of which are cavitating.

Fig. 21.12. A singing model propeller.(Courtesy: ITTC, 2014. Specialist committee

on hydrodynamic noise report. In: Proc. ITTC.)
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