In recent years, propellers with various blade configurations such as highly skewed propellers are often fitted to ships from the viewpoint of reduction of vibration and noise. In the design of such propellers, design charts based on methodical series tests are to be complemented by theoretical calculations for accurate estimation of propeller open-water characteristics. The author intended to develop a method to estimate propeller open-water characteristics based on Quasi -Vortex - Lattice Method originally developed by Lan for solving planar thin wings, The Quasi - Vortex - Lattice Method has the simplicity and flexibility of Vortex - Lattice Method. Its accuracy is comparable to that of the Vortex - Lattice Method. Converged solution can be obtained with a small number of control points and further, leading edge suction force can be calculated directly. In the present paper, a numerical method to estimate propeller open-water characteristics based on the Quasi - Vortex - Lattice Method is reviewed and its application to marine propellers is described in detail. Comparison of propeller open-water characteristics obtained by the present method with experimental data showed good agreement for a wide variety of propellers including highly skewed propellers.

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