FEM MODEL OF AN UNDERWATER VEHICLE THRUSTER PROPELLER

Abstract

Propulsion research has been done within the context of the project for the design and optimisation of the Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV). CFD and FEM simulations that took the undersea vehicle's properties into consideration supported the whole project. Optimising the semi-open duct for horizontal propellers—a quantifiable system that offered controllability and propulsion in a horizontal plane—was one of the goals. It was required to examine the construction of propellers with nozzles and contra-rotating propellers, as well as the numerical approach of propeller design, in order to build a model for this work. Theoretical solutions were presented to it, one of which included operating the examined propeller close to an underwater vehicle. Additionally, first qualitative studies of a streamlined system with a semi-open duct and contra-rotating propellers were performed. Making a choice on the ROVs duct shape was made possible by the findings acquired. An actual propeller model was created using the SLS (Selective Laser Sintering) fast prototyping technique. This meant that the propeller's FEM model, which was based on the load determined by the CFD model, had to be verified. The features of the investigated ROV, the theoretical foundation for propeller design for the situations under analysis, and the outcomes of CFD and FEM simulations are all included in this paper.