Flow Simulation of Ducted Marine Propulsor For Underwater Robot

The ducted propeller is widely used as a propulsor in submarines, torpedos, UUVs (unmanned underwater vehicles), underwater robots, and DPDs (diver propulsion devices) because of its high propulsive efficiency. Its merits also include collision protection, efficiency enhancement, cavitation reduction, etc. However, full 3-D flow analysis is hard because of complexity of geometry and interactions between the propeller and the duct. The present work aims to design the propursive system and analyze the turbulent flow field of a ducted marine propulsor using Navier-Stokes equations with the MRF (Multiple Reference Frames) technique at Fluent code.