Numerical Simulation of the Ducted Propeller and Application to a Semi-Submerged Vehicle

Abstract

The self-propulsion test of underwater vehicles is the key technique for predicting and evaluating the navigation performance of these submersibles. In this study, the numerical simulation of a standard propeller JD7704+Ka4-70 is first presented and the results are compared with experiments to validate the numerical approaches. The reason why the propulsion efficiency of the ducted propeller is higher than that of the conventional propeller is explored. Then, the paper proposes a series of numerical simulations conducted to test the performance of the ducted propeller designed according to the JD7704+Ka4-70 in order to match with the unmanned semi-submerged vehicle (USSV), and the propeller’s open water characteristic curves are obtained. The results show a reasonable agreement with the regression analysis. Afterwards, the numerical simulations focus on a self-propulsion test of the USSV with the designed ducted propeller and the self-propulsion point is obtained. The streamlines through the hull as well as the ducted propellers are clearly obtained, together with the velocity distributions of the propeller plane. The results vividly demonstrate the hydrodynamic performance of the USSV with the designed propellers. In this paper, all the CFD simulations are based on the numerical software, Star-CCM+, and use the Reynolds-averaged Navier‒Stokes (RANS) equations with the shear stress transport (SST) k-omega turbulence model.

Hydrodynamic State of Art Review: Rotor – Stator Marine Propulsor Systems Design

“…In the case of unsteady simulations, the time step turns out also to have vital importance [25], [26]. For this reason, new efforts on CFD development are currently being made, with self-propulsion conditions as a research topic [30], [33].…”

CFD Simulation on Hydrodynamics of Underwater Vehicle with Ducted Propellers

“…In general, the influence of Reynolds number on the torque of ducted propellers is relatively higher and is quite necessary to pursue research on ducted propellers based on the RANS equation [10]. By changing the geometry parameters of the ducted propeller, numerical investigations were carried out to explore the effects of the geometry structure on the hydrodynamic performance with high efficiency, high quality and low cost [11,12]. Compared traditional propellers and ducted propellers in terms of propulsive force, hydrodynamic properties and geometry parameters, some scholars discussed the structural characteristics, functional advantages and applicable occasions via CFD methods [13,14].…”