Analysis of influence of duct geometrical parameters on pump jet propulsor hydrodynamic performance

To analyze the influence of duct geometrical parameters on hydrodynamic performance of pump jet propulsor, this paper presents a surface panel method for predicting performance of pump jet propulsor. And, moreover, a meshing method for blade, based on circular conical surface, is proposed. According to the actual situation of the internal flow of the pump jet propulsor, a tip leakage vortex model for the blades with flat top is also proposed. The hydrodynamic performance of pump jet propulsor under different conditions was calculated and compared with CFD results for the verification of the presented method. Then the influence of duct parameters on pump jet performance was analyzed from several aspects including performance index, surface pressure distribution, and flow velocity. The results show that variations of gap size, camber or attack angle of duct result in different hydrodynamic performance. Suitable selection of duct geometry can significantly increase the thrust efficiency of the pump jet propulsor, expand the range of effective work, and improve the loading characteristics of the blade.