Abstract: The calculations of propeller performance at different advance ratios have been eompleted with the free wake analysis method.The wake is divided into near and far regions.In the case of heavy load when the advance ratio of propeller is small,the contraction of wake has large effect on the performance of the propeller.The free wake analysis method takes the wake contraction into account.According to lifting lines for the blade loading distribution,propeller performance calculated shows a good agreement with experimental data.