Design and Performance Analysis of Ducted Propulsor for Underwater Robot

doi:2012.26.6.39

J. Ocean Eng. Technol. > Volume 26(6); 2012 > Article

J. Ocean Eng. Technol. 2012;26(6):39-45.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5574/KSOE.2012.26.6.039

Kim Kyung-Jin,Lee Doo-Hyoung,Park Warn-Gyu,Park Han-Il

School of Mechanical Engineering Pusan National University,School of Mechanical Engineering Pusan National University,School of Mechanical Engineering Pusan National University,Department of Ocean Engineering Korea Maritime University

수중로봇용 덕트 추진기의 설계 및 성능해석

김경진,이두형,박원규,박한일

부산대학교 기계공학부,부산대학교 기계공학부,부산대학교 기계공학부,한국해양대학교 해양공학과

Keywords: Ducted propulsor, Propeller design, Underwater robot, Navier-Stokes equation, Hydrodynamic force

핵심용어: 덕트 추진기, 프로펠러 설계, 수중로봇, 나비아-스톡스 방정식, 수력학적 힘

Abstract

Underwater robots are generally used for the construction of seabed structures, deep-sea ecosystem research, ocean energy development, etc. A ducted marine propulsor is widely used for the thruster of an underwater robot because of its collision protection, efficiency increase, cavitation reduction, etc. However, the flow of a ducted propeller is very complex because it involves strong flow interactions between the blade impeller and duct. The present work aimed to design a ducted propeller using 2-D strip theory and CFD analysis. The hydrodynamic forces (i.e. and ) were computed to set the local angle of attack in a spanwise direction of the propeller blade. After the propeller design, performance coefficients such as the thrust, torque, and efficiency were computed to check whether the designed performance was achieved. To validate the present analysis, the thrust was compared with experimental data and good agreement was obtained.