A Navier-Stokes/Actuator Disc Simulation of Body-Ducted Propulsor Flow

Abstract

The interactions between a cylinder body and a ducted propeller is simulated using a coupled Navier-Stokes and actuator disc approach. The actuator disc approach raises the pressure of the fluid flowing through the propeller disc. Therefore, the finite number of blades, and the production of fluid rotation are ignored. An unstructured grid-based three-dimensional finite element method was used to solve the turbulent hydrodynamic flowfield. A Baldwin-Lomax turbulence model was used. The source strength was determined to match the thrust generated by propeller. The additional momentum due to the actuator disc is treated by a uniform distribution of sources over the propeller disc in momentum equation of Navier-Stokes equations. The three different momentum source strengths were used and the results from these cases and a no-source case are compared. It is shown that the source distribution can induce upstream separation if not properly chosen. (Work Sponsored by DoD HPCMO.)