Numerical Validation of Thrust Produced by Remotely Operated Vehicle

Abstract

AbstractThis paper inspects the use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analyses in order to obtain various hydrodynamic characteristics of an observation class remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). This is accomplished by comparing the thrust generated from CFD analyses with the thrust measured from experimental results. Hence, analyses are conducted using ANSYS FLUENT solver, for steady state linear motion of the ROV at different speeds, while considering the rotational motion of propeller. Subsequently, few of the most commonly used turbulence models and methods for simulating propeller motion are compared. As a result, the k-w (omega) shear stress transport (SST) model for turbulence, with moving reference frame (MRF) approach for propeller motion is used in this study. The paper also goes over a simple and low-cost test Jig that was used to measure the thrust produced. This paper also briefly describes the process of 3D printing the propellers used in this study.KeywordsComputational fluid dynamics (CFD)Remotely operated vehicle (ROV)Moving reference frame (MRF)