Study on the Applicability of Turbulence Models for Open-Water Performance Computation of the Ducted Propellers

• 1、Huazhong University of Science and Technology, State Key Laboratory of Digital Manufacturing Equipment and Technology, Wuhan, 430074
• 2、 Huazhong University of Science and Technology, State Key Laboratory of Digital Manufacturing Equipment and Technology, Wuhan, 430074

Abstract：The open-water performance computation for a ducted propeller is conducted by using the Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations and three different turbulence models based on the multi-block hybrid meshes. Three turbulence models are standard k-ε turbulence model, RNG k-ε turbulence model and RSM, respectively. The calculation contains the total thrust coefficient; the duct thrust coefficient; the torque coefficient and the open-water efficiency, the result shows that the turbulence model has certain influence on the simulation accuracy, but it is not the main source of the error. From the comparison of the calculation accuracy, it shows that under design conditions, RNG k-ε turbulence model and RSM have better applicability, the error of the coefficient is below 3%, the standard k-ε turbulence model has poor applicability; under off-design conditions, Reynolds stress model (RSM) has better accuracy and is more suitable in the prediction of ducted propeller open-water performance. The research provides reference in the selection of turbulence model in viscous flow around the complex rotating machine.

Keywords： Ducted propellers Open-water performance computation Turbulence models Applicability