The hydrodynamic performance analysis of a submarine with new pump-jet propulsor

Abstract

A new type of pump-jet propulsor (PJP) was designed and installed on the DARPA Suboff. The installation position of this new PJP is different from the traditional PJP, which gives more possibilities to improve the comprehensive performance of submarine. The duct of PJP has been automatically modeled based on pumped rotor, stator and hull shape. The rotor of PJP has been modeled as an actuator disc based on body force method coupled with the experimental open water data. The hydrodynamic performance analysis was applied on the self-propulsion point, and the self-propulsion characteristics were estimated by the thrust identity method. Moreover, the pressure and velocity distribution for different duct geometric parameters have been compared and discussed. The results indicate that the size of the duct has an impact on the generation of negative pressure zone and the wake distribution. When the geometric parameters of duct are equal to r = 0.75R, L = 3.5D and H = 0.8D, the overall performance is superior. The new pump jet destroys the circumferential correlation of the duct vortex and accelerates the dissipation of the vortex.