A numerical analysis based on detached eddy simulations is conducted to investigate vortex instabilities in the wake of a preswirl pumpjet propulsor. Three models are established to separate the roles that the rotor, stator, and duct play in the vortex structure of the pumpjet propulsor. In this paper, only the vortex structure of the rotor is considered. The results show that the vortex system of the rotor is mainly composed of the tip vortices, a hub vortex, the trailing tip vortices, and the trailing root vortices. The trailing tip vortices are generated by the premature shedding of the tip vortices in the rotor model compared with a normal single propeller. The existence of trailing root vortices increases the stability of the hub vortex. Furthermore, a unique multi-inductance instability mode of the tip vortex, called the “overlap–forward” phenomenon, is found for low values of the advance coefficient J. It is found that the instability of the tip vortex depends not only on the spiral-to-spiral distance but also on the highest-efficiency point of the propeller. The instability inception point of the tip vortex moves farther downstream with increasing J, whereas when J is greater than the highest-efficiency point of the propeller, the stable length of the tip vortices drops sharply. The energy transfer process from blade harmonics to shaft harmonics of the tip vortices depends on J and is related to the spatial evolution of the tip vortices.

A numerical study based on detached eddy simulations is conducted to investigate the effects of the odd and even number of rotor/stator blades, that is, n_r/n_s, on the hydrodynamic performance of a pre-swirl pumpjet propulsor (PJP). In this paper, six PJPs, the PJP 6-4 (n_s–n_r), 8-6, 10-8, 7-5, 9-7, and 11-9, are created. The hydrodynamic performance, the unsteady force of blades, and the wake structure of the PJPs are compared. The results show that the frequency of the fluctuating force of the whole rotor highly depends on the number or, more specifically, the parity of n_r. When the parameter n_r is the even number, it can be found that the total unsteady force of the rotor blades will be strengthened at the k-order stator-blades-passing frequency ($k=1/2n_r$ ). Moreover, it indicates that the superposition-enhancement coefficient (is defined as $A^{*}$ ) at $k=1/2n_r$ equals to n_r, at least from the present tests. In terms of both the rotor and stator numbers are even, a phenomenon of the rotor–stator resonance occurs at $f=1/2n_s{n}_r{f}_n$ , where f_n represents the hub rotational frequency. This work is expected to give some insight in the design of a PJP.

A numerical analysis based on detached eddy simulations is conducted to investigate vortex dynamics of a pre-swirl pumpjet propulsor (PJP) in oblique inflow. In this paper, the working conditions of PJP operating in axisymmetric flow and drift with two angles (10° and 20°) are considered. The effects of incidence α and propeller loading on the wake dynamics of PJP as well as the mechanism leading to its destabilization are discussed. The results show that high hydrodynamic efficiency loss is found for PJP operating in drift. In addition, a different “secondary vortex structure” caused by the duct is found for PJP in both axisymmetric and oblique flow conditions. The instability mechanism of tip vortices shows obvious asymmetry. On the leeward side, it is dominated by the interaction caused by the duct-induced vortex, while it is dominated by the secondary vortices on the windward side. Furthermore, the fluctuation frequency of tip vortex for PJP is characterized by the rotor blade-passing frequency and the stator blade-passing frequency. In addition, the hub rotation frequency is important in oblique flow conditions.