Three-dimensional Parametric Study For MHD Marine Propulsion

• Published in: Proceedings of the 25th Intersociety Energy Conversion Engineering Conference Vol. 5; pp. 508 - 513
• Main Authors: Doss, E.D., Roy, G.D.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 1990
• Subjects: Electrodes; Magnetic analysis; Magnetic fields; Magnetohydrodynamics; Marine vehicles; Maxwell equations; Navier-Stokes equations; Parametric study; Propulsion; Underwater vehicles
• ISBN: 9780816904907; 0816904901
• DOI: 10.1109/IECEC.1990.748001

The Performance Of Mhd Seawater Thrusters Have been investigated using a dime-dimensional MHD flow model. The model incorporates the interaction between the flow fields and the electrical fields inside the thruster. A parametric study has been performed using the three-dimensional MHD flow model to analyze the performance of continuous electrode seawater thrusters under different operating parameters. The effects of these parameters on the fluid flow characteristics, and on the thruster efficiency have been investigated. Those parameters include the magnetic field (10-20 T), thruster diameter (1-2 m), surface roughness (0-2 mm), velocity (5-30 m/s), and the electric load factor (1-10). The results of the three-dimensional computations indicate that the velocity profiles are flatter over the sidewalls in comparison to the velocity profiles over the electrode walls. However such differences are not significant. The results of the parametric study show that the thruster electrical efficiency increases with the strength of the magnetic field and thruster diameter, and decreases with the flow velocity and surface roughness