Numerical simulation and thrust performance optimization of water jet thruster

With the increasing use of water jet thrusters on ships, the demand for increasing their thrust performance and efficiency is also increasing. The impeller, as the core power component, is the key to the thrust of the water jet thruster. Therefore, to obtain a more energy-saving, low-carbon, and higher-thrust water jet thruster, this paper conducts an in-depth study on the impeller of the water jet thruster. The hexahedral grid is used to divide the internal flow field of the water jet thruster into structured grids, and the RANS equation and k - ε turbulence model are used to simulate the hydraulic performance of the original model, and then the blade of the impeller is optimized. Finally, compared with the original model, the simulation results of the optimization model show that the efficiency is increased by 4.8 %, and the thrust at the highest efficiency point is increased from 614 N to 1623 N. The optimized model greatly improves the efficiency and thrust of the water jet thruster, and the optimization effect is obvious.