1. Introduction
Underwater propulsion technology is one of the core technologies of marine core equipment and is the power source for underwater vehicle navigation. With the development and progress of detection technology, underwater vehicles face more severe challenges in maneuverability and safety. Compared with traditional underwater propulsion technology, pump jet propulsion has the advantages of low noise, high efficiency, and large thrust [
1]. Pump jet propulsor has become a hot topic in the research field of propulsion technology. The pump jet has a complex structure, consisting of three parts: the rotor, the duct, and the stator [
2]. In order to increase the speed, the stator and rotor are generally covered with ducts on the structure. According to the positional relationship between the stator and the rotor, pump jets can be divided into two types: the front stator pump jet and the rear stator pump jet. The front stator can improve inflow conditions and reduce noise; the rear stator can recover wake energy and improve efficiency [
3]. However, due to the complexity and emerging nature of the internal flow of pump jets, a unified and effective design method for pump jets has not yet been formed. Therefore, developing and improving an advanced pump jet design theory and method is of great value and significance for submarines and underwater vehicles.
At present, there is little public information on pump jet propulsion, with the main research focusing on experimental research and CFD simulation calculations. There is relatively less information on design research. The lift line method is used to design the pump jet rotor as a finite two-dimensional airfoil. The lift line of the blade airfoil is used to replace the airfoil. By calculating the circulation and vorticity on the lift line, the lift line design of different blade heights is completed, and then the blades are thickened to complete the blade design. This theory was proposed and improved by Goldstein et al. [
4,
5,
6], and has been well-verified in design, and the optimal circulation theory is still a good method for the design of pump jet vanes [
7,
8,
9,
10,
11].
The lifting method, which is a deepening of the lift line theory based on one- and two-element design theories, was originally applied to the design of axial flow pump blades, which is still widely used in the design of axial flow pumps [
12,
13,
14]. And the design of the rotor by the lifting method is completely based on the assumption of the independence of the cylindrical layer. The key to the lifting method design is to select appropriate airfoil parameters and airfoil stacking parameters. However, the controllable parameters of the airfoil method design are limited and obvious, including the airfoil type, maximum airfoil thickness, airfoil stagger angle, angle of attack, chord length, camber angle, airfoil accumulation line, etc. [
15]. Cox et al. [
16,
17] applied this theory to underwater propulsion systems. Domestic Wang Guoqiang et al. [
18,
19] used the lifting method to predict the steady and unsteady hydrodynamic performance of the ducted propeller, and studied the cavitation performance of the propeller. Dong Shitang [
20] applied the lifting method to study the boundary problems of propellers under full three-dimensional conditions, improving the accuracy of the lifting method in dealing with boundary problems; Xiong Ying and Tan Tingshou [
21] established a propeller design theory suitable for the wake-adapted lifting method, which is still widely used in the design of the pump jet.
The research on pump jet optimization is mostly focused on the effects of a single factor. However, optimization methods from related application fields can serve as a theoretical basis to guide the optimization of the pump jet system. Lin Lu et al. [
22,
23] studied the open water characteristics and tip clearance of E779A on pump jet performance through experiments and CFD calculations, and pointed out that, with the increase in tip clearance, the tip leakage vortex develops, which eventually leads to a decrease in cavitation performance and open water efficiency. Sang Jun Ahn et al. [
24] studied rotors with connecting rings. The cavitation performance on the suction surface of the rotor blades decreases due to the reduction in axial speed. The rotor with connecting rings reduces the torque while ensuring the same thrust and efficiency, providing a new design idea.
The above studies all focus on a certain factor that affects the pump jet efficiency, but do not consider the impact of multiple factors coupled with each other on the design results. The orthogonal optimization method can use fewer computing resources to study the influence of multi-parameters, which is widely used in the optimization of the vane pump. The effect of orthogonal optimization mainly depends on three factors: influencing parameters, parameter levels, and orthogonal optimization tables. After the above three factors are selected, the test sample can be quickly determined and the optimization is completed. Usually, the final result of the optimization is better than the result of the orthogonal table sample. R.Bontempo et al. [
25,
26] established the model of the airfoil of the pump nozzle through theoretical derivation and extracted the key parameters. They optimized and calculated the four parameters through the orthogonal method. The propulsion efficiency of the pump jet can be improved by increasing the pipe thickness, curvature, and wing chord, and reducing the angle of attack. Xu et al. [
27] established a five-factor four-level orthogonal table and pointed out that the outlet blade stagger angle and blade leading edge position have the greatest impact on efficiency and cavitation performance. The subsequent selection of appropriate parameters increased the hydraulic efficiency of the centrifugal pump by 3.09% and reduced pump cavitation by 1.45 m. Liu et al. [
28] selected five optimization factors, the hub inlet stagger angle, rim inlet stagger angle, rim outlet stagger angle, and control coefficients of hub and rim profiles, and increased the pump pressure rise by 12.8 kPa at the design flow rate. Yuan et al. [
29] took the weighted average efficiency near the design flow rate as the optimization target, and the optimized efficiency was 4.68% higher than the original pump efficiency. Zheng et al. [
30] designed an orthogonal experiment with four factors and three levels, and studied the effects of the blade number, airfoil, hub ratio, and distance between the impeller and guide vane, and found that the factors that have the greatest impact on efficiency are the number of blades and hub ratio. Finally, the impeller efficiency was increased by 5.7% and the pressure pulsation was reduced.
In order to achieve a high-efficiency propulsion of the pump jet, the theory and method of the hydraulic design of the pump jet were developed. The pump jet was designed by the baseline model; the thrust performance and hydraulic performance of the pump jet were studied by numerical calculation. The thrust efficiency was optimized as the objective function. Compared to the original pump jet thrust coefficient and thrust efficiency, the optimized pump jet thrust coefficient and thrust efficiency are significantly improved at various speed conditions, with a thrust efficiency increased by 7.23%.
2. Pump Jet Design Method
2.1. Blade Configuration Method
The pump jet design theory was developed based on the axial flow pump lifting method. Based on two-dimensional airfoil stacking for the blade configuration, it is important to select appropriate design parameters according to the requirements. The airfoil can determine the lift and drag, and further affects the hydraulic and thrust performance of the pump jet. The NACA65 foil is selected in this work due to its superior performance characteristics, particularly in terms of the lift-to-drag ratio, which is crucial for optimizing the hydraulic and thrust performance of the pump jet. The blade three-dimensional shape can be controlled by the stagger angle (
γ), camber angle (
φ), and chord length (
l).
Figure 1 shows the airfoil shape, stagger angle, camber angle, and chord length.
Firstly, the stagger angle of the blade is determined. The velocity triangle at the blade section’s center of gravity is selected to replace the velocity distribution of the entire airfoil. Then, we select a cylindrical layer with a thickness of dr at a height of
r, and unfold it to obtain a plane inline blade cascade. Given an attack angle of
α, its force analysis diagram and velocity triangle are shown in
Figure 2:
The calculation formula of inflow angle
β∞ can be obtained from the velocity triangle at the center of gravity of the airfoil:
The blade stagger angle γ is given by adding the inflow angle and the angle of attack:
In
Figure 2, d
Fl is the lift, and d
Fd is the resistance, given by:
where
Cl is the lift coefficient and
Cd is the drag coefficient.
The resultant force dF on the blade element is given by:
The resultant force can be decomposed into the axial thrust
dT of the impeller and the resistance
dFM of the impeller’s circumferential direction:
For this element, the impeller does work externally:
The energy added by this micro-element fluid is:
According to the law of conservation of energy, the work carried out by the impeller is equal to the energy added by the micro-element fluid:
After selecting the blade density
l/t, the lift coefficient can be calculated according to the Euler formula. The lift coefficient is the lift coefficient of the blade when the angle of attack is α. In fact, the two coefficients cannot correspond at the beginning, so it is necessary to iterate it to obtain the suitable angle of attack and lift coefficient. There is no corresponding database for the blade lift coefficient, but the relationship between the lift and drag coefficient of a single airfoil and the angle of attack can be found in the airfoil aerodynamic test data. This method has been tested and verified by NASA. The lift coefficient of a single airfoil needs to be corrected to the blade lift coefficient. The correction formula is as follows:
Ln is the correction factor of the flat blade cascade, and
m is the correction factor of the airfoil cascade to the flat blade cascade.
The chord length is determined by the density of the blade cascade, and generally refers to the calculation results of the blade cascade density of the axial flow pump at the same specific speed. The camber angle reflects the curvature of the airfoil. The larger the camber angle, the greater the curvature angle of the airfoil.
2.2. Blade Stacking Method
After determining the airfoils with different blade heights, a three-dimensional blade configuration is required by stacking the blades. There are three common stacking points, the leading edge point, center-of-gravity point, and trailing edge point, corresponding to the three stacking methods. Among them, the center-of-gravity stacking line can give the mass distribution of the blade along the blade height direction, which is convenient for studying the force of the blade, so this paper uses the center-of-gravity point stacking method to perform the three-dimensional blade configuration.
The center-of-gravity stacking line is projected to the axial and circumferential planes of the blade, and two sweeping curves can be obtained in the two planes, as shown in
Figure 3 and
Figure 4. Among them, the curve of the blade’s axial projection controls the forward and backward sweep by changing the position of the center of gravity of the airfoil at different blade heights, thereby driving the entire airfoil to sweep forward or backward. The curve of the blade’s circumferential projection controls the center of gravity in the circumferential direction, and the bending direction of this curve is consistent with the forward and backward bending of the blade in the circumferential direction.
For the curve that controls the front and rear sweep in the z–r plane, the values in the r direction and z direction are determined by Formula (14), respectively; z
s represents the z-direction co-ordinate of the wheel rim; and the curve that controls the steering bend in the x–y plane is determined by Formula (15):
where
zs,
a, and
c are the adjustable parameters studied,
rs is the rim radius, and
rh is the hub radius. The influence of specific parameters on the pump jet performance will be introduced in detail later.
2.3. Design Results
According to the actual working conditions, the given rated speed
Vs is 8 kn, about 4.1 m/s; the rated speed is 1450 r/min, and the actual thrust is about 120 N.
where
α is the momentum influence coefficient,
β is the kinetic energy influence coefficient, and
Vs is the pump jet inlet speed.
The integral expressions of momentum influence coefficient α and kinetic energy influence coefficient
β are:
where
Vz is the velocity at the inlet flow section at different radii, and
Ai is the inlet flow area.
The design parameters can be calculated through Formula (16) and (17), where flow rate
Q = 0.06 m
3/s, head
H = 2.7 m, maximum diameter of pump jet impeller
D = 180 mm, calculated specific speed
ns = 615, and the preliminary design parameters are shown in
Table 1.
According to the design experience, the number of blades corresponding to an axial flow pump jet with a specific speed of 600 is 5. At the same time, a larger hub ratio should be selected, so the hub ratio was determined to be 0.4.
After the design parameters and inflow angle are determined, the calculation process of the stagger angle is as follows: Initially, the angle of attack is assumed to be 1°. The appropriate airfoil and blade density are selected, and these values are substituted into Formula (11) to calculate the lift coefficient. The calculated lift coefficient is then compared with the given lift characteristic curve. If the calculated lift coefficient does not match the given lift characteristic curve, the angle of attack value is adjusted and recalculated. This process is repeated until the calculated lift coefficient and the corresponding angle of attack are the same as or similar to the lift coefficient and the corresponding angle of attack on the given lift characteristic curve. Once they match, the iteration is ended, and the angle of attack for each blade section is determined. Finally, the angle of attack is superimposed onto the inflow angle to obtain the final blade stagger angle.
In order to realize the automatic selection and design configuration of the pump jet, the software is written based on MATLAB-GUI (R2020a). The input of the program is the design conditions, namely, the rotation speed, speed, and resistance. During the design process, the blade is evenly divided into 21 sections along the blade height. The above calculation procedure is carried out for each section to determine the airfoil stagger angle for each section. Then, the distribution of the blade stagger angles from the hub to the shroud is obtained. After that, the sweep mode of the airfoil stacking line was selected to obtain the three-dimensional airfoil data. The final result of the program design is trimmed and the blade surface is smoothed, and the designed rotor is shown in
Figure 5.
In the pump jet, the stator plays the role of rectifying, recovering wake energy, and generating a small amount of thrust. It is not the core work component, so it has a simple structure and small distortion. The streamline method is used here to design the blades. The stator inlet stagger angle is the same as the rotor outlet inflow angle, so that the fluid can enter the stator smoothly, and the outlet stagger angle is 90° to recover the energy of the rotating fluid as much as possible. The number of stators is generally greater than the number of rotors, and the number of blades is relatively prime, so the number of stator blades is determined to be 7. The stator designed according to these principles is shown in
Figure 6.
This article mainly studies the impact of the rotor on the pump jet performance; the duct is not the main research object of this article, so the duct only needs to meet the basic functions. The duct is selected as a contraction duct, that is, an acceleration duct, which can increase the flow rate of the liquid inside the pump jet, thus increasing the thrust and thrust efficiency. The duct section is similar to an airfoil and is used to reduce the resistance loss caused by the duct itself. The thickness of the duct in this article meets the 719-airfoil thickness distribution, and the cross-section is shown in
Figure 7.
6. Conclusions
In this work, a blade design method based on center-of-gravity stacking line control was proposed, and the pump jet rotor was designed. Based on a single-factor analysis and orthogonal optimization, a multi-parameter optimization design was carried out for the pump jet. Four optimization parameters including the angle of attack, chord length, camber angle and number of blades are selected in the orthogonal table. Three levels for the optimization parameters are determined by experience. A high-thrust-efficiency pump jet was obtained by orthogonal optimization. Conclusions can be drawn as follows:
- (1)
Increasing the angle of attack significantly improves the thrust performance and hydraulic performance of the pump, but it may cause abnormal flow at a small flow rate. The chord length has little effect on the thrust performance. The camber angle has little effect on the maximum thrust efficiency and hydraulic efficiency, but a larger camber angle is beneficial to large flow conditions and has a wider efficient working area.
- (2)
According to a range analysis of the orthogonal method, as the angle of attack increases, the pump jet thrust efficiency increases; as the chord length increases, the thrust efficiency decreases; and, as the number of blades increases, the thrust efficiency decreases. The influence level of optimization parameters on pump jet thrust efficiency is sorted as follows: number of blades > angle of attack > chord length > camber angle.
- (3)
After the optimization, the thrust coefficient and thrust efficiency of the optimized pump jet are improved under different speed conditions, and the maximum thrust efficiency of the pump jet increased by 7.23%. The flow pattern in the optimal pump jet has been improved. The pressure gradient of the optimal pump jet becomes more fluent than that of original pump jet, which improves the energy performance.
Above all, this paper has conducted an in-depth study on the pump jet rotor structure, but has conducted less research on other structures, such as the duct and stator. In the future, the duct profile, stator-blade-related parameters, and stator–rotor co-ordination relationship would be undergoing further study to improve the hydraulic performance and thrust performance of the pump jet.