NDLI: Integrated Motor/Propulsor Duct Optimization for Increased Vehicle and Propulsor Performance

Content Provider	The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Digital Collection
Author	Stephen, A. Huyer Dropkin, Amanda
Abstract	Integrated electric motor/propulsor technological development offers the potential to increase usable volume for undersea vehicles by locating the electric motor in the duct. This has the added advantage that the electric motor has increased usable torque due to the increased radius. For many torpedo and unmanned undersea vehicle applications, however, the maximum vehicle diameter is limited by design. This places significant constraints on the vehicle and propulsor design in order to maximize hydrodynamic performance. The electric motor requires a significant duct thickness that both increases hydrodynamic drag due to the presence of the duct as well as limiting the maximum propeller radius. Both constraints result in diminished propulsor performance by both increasing overall drag and reducing the propulsive efficiency. In order to meet vehicle design objectives related to maximum vehicle speed and associated power requirements, a computational study was conducted to better understand the underlying fluid dynamics associated with various duct shapes and the resultant impact on both total vehicle drag and propulsor efficiency. As a baseline to this study, a post-swirl propulsor configuration was chosen (downstream stator blade row) with a 9 blade rotor and 11 blade stator. A generic torpedo hull shape was chosen and the maximum duct radius was required to lie within this radius. A cylindrical rim driven electric motor capable of generating a specific horsepower to achieve the design operational velocity required a set volume and established a design constraint limiting the shape of the duct. With this constraint, the duct shape was varied to produce varying constant flow acceleration from upstream of the rotor blade row to downstream of the stator blade row. The mean flow acceleration was derived from a constant mass flow relation. The axisymmetric Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes version of Fluent® was used to examine the fluid dynamics associated with a range of accelerated and decelerated duct flow cases as well as provide the base total vehicle drag. For each given duct shape, the Propeller Blade Design Code, PBD 14.3 was used to generate an optimized rotor and stator. To provide fair comparisons, the circulation distribution and maximum rotor radius were held constant to generate equivalent amounts of thrust. Propulsor efficiency could then be estimated based on these calculations. Calculations showed that minimum vehicle drag was produced with a duct that produced zero mean flow acceleration. Ducts generating accelerating and decelerating flow increased drag. However, propulsive efficiency based on blade thrust and torque was significantly increased for accelerating flow through the duct and reduced for decelerating flow cases. Full 3-D RANS flow simulations were then conducted for select test cases to quantify the specific blade, hull and duct forces and highlight the increased component drag produced by an operational propulsor, which reduced overall propulsive efficiency. Based on these results, an optimum rotor balancing vehicle drag and propulsive efficiency is proposed.
Sponsorship	Fluids Engineering Division
Starting Page	797
Ending Page	807
Page Count	11
File Format	PDF
ISBN	9780791849484
DOI	10.1115/FEDSM-ICNMM2010-31014
e-ISBN	9780791838808
Volume Number	ASME 2010 3rd Joint US-European Fluids Engineering Summer Meeting: Volume 1, Symposia – Parts A, B, and C
Conference Proceedings	ASME 2010 3rd Joint US-European Fluids Engineering Summer Meeting collocated with 8th International Conference on Nanochannels, Microchannels, and Minichannels
Language	English
Publisher Date	2010-08-01
Publisher Place	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Access Restriction	Subscribed
Subject Keyword	Torque Propellers Blades Fluid dynamics Ducts Rotors Motors Drag (fluid dynamics) Flow (dynamics) Engines Optimization Vehicles Electric motors Hull Automotive design Design Flow simulation Reynolds-averaged navier–stokes equations Rotor balancing Horsepower Stators Shapes Thrust
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

Integrated Motor/Propulsor Duct Optimization for Increased Vehicle and Propulsor Performance

Combined Experimental/Numerical Development of Propulsor Evaluation Capability

Numerical and Experimental Research on a Podded Propulsor

An Optimization Framework for PBCF Energy Saving Devices

Numerical Simulation of Underwater Propulsor Using an Unstructured Overset Mesh Technique

Aerodynamic Inverse Blade Design of Axial Compressors in Three-Dimensional Flow Using a Commercial CFD Program

Numerical Investigation of Energy Saving Device Effects on Ships With Propeller-Hull Interactions

Analysis and Design of a Low Reynolds Propeller for Optimal Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Flight

CFD Validation for a Marine Propeller Using an Unstructured Mesh Based RANS Method

Integrated Motor/Propulsor Duct Optimization for Increased Vehicle and Propulsor Performance

Similar Documents

Integrated Motor/Propulsor Duct Optimization for Increased Vehicle and Propulsor Performance

Combined Experimental/Numerical Development of Propulsor Evaluation Capability

Numerical and Experimental Research on a Podded Propulsor

An Optimization Framework for PBCF Energy Saving Devices

Numerical Simulation of Underwater Propulsor Using an Unstructured Overset Mesh Technique

Aerodynamic Inverse Blade Design of Axial Compressors in Three-Dimensional Flow Using a Commercial CFD Program

Numerical Investigation of Energy Saving Device Effects on Ships With Propeller-Hull Interactions

Analysis and Design of a Low Reynolds Propeller for Optimal Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Flight

CFD Validation for a Marine Propeller Using an Unstructured Mesh Based RANS Method

Integrated Motor/Propulsor Duct Optimization for Increased Vehicle and Propulsor Performance