In accordance with the IACS URI3 specification, this study investigates the strength and stress distribution of an ice-class propeller under ice loads using the Finite Element Method (FEM). The results indicate that the stress distributions of case 1 and case 3 are relatively similar. The stress distributions of case 2 and case 4 are relatively similar. The maximum stress area is mainly located at the blade root, blade tip and trailing edge on the suction surface. Based on this model, the influence of rake and skew on the strength and the induced pressure fluctuations is studied. The results indicate that increasing rake and skew is beneficial for reducing propeller-induced pressure fluctuations. However, excessive rake and skew decrease the safety factor of the blade strength.
Yang et al. (Sun,) studied this question.