Investigation of thrust and load characteristics of AUV propeller under the condition of different angle incoming flow

Under the influence of the sea current, the hydrodynamic performance of the propeller varies with the changing of the incoming flow direction. Aiming to obtain the hydrodynamic performance accurately, the thrust and load characteristic of AUV propeller is investigated under the conditions that different angles incoming flow go through the plane of propeller. First, the visual-physical model is built and gridded in the CFD software. The open water hydrodynamic performance of propeller is calculated in the CFD software, based on the standard turbulent model. The consistency between the calculated results and the experimental/theoretical results shows the practicability and validity of the CFD method. Then, the incoming flow angle range is set from 0° to 25°. The thrust force and load torque of propeller is calculated in the CFD software under the condition of steady incoming flow velocity but different incoming flow angle. Lastly, we can see that the propulsion force and torque of propeller will increase with the increasing of the incoming flow angle, where the maximum value would increase 75% compared with the initial case based on the analysis of the calculated results. This hydrodynamic performance is proposed for the design of the AUV propulsion control strategy. And this computed results could be the reference index when choose the rated power of the propulsion motor.