In this study, an annular jet pump optimization method is proposed based on an RBF (Radial Basis Function) neural network model and NSGA-II (Non-Dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm) optimization algorithm to improve the hydraulic performance of the annular jet pump applied in submarine trenching and dredging. Suction angle, diffusion angle, area ratio and flow ratio were selected as design variables. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was used for numerical simulation to obtain the corresponding performance, and an accurate RBF neural network approximate model was established. Finally, the NSGA-II algorithm was selected to carry out multi-objective optimization and obtain the optimal design variable combination. The results show that the determination coefficient R² of the two objective functions (jet pump efficiency and head ratio) of the approximate model of the RBF neural network were greater than 0.97. Compared with the original model, the optimized model’s suction angle increased, and the diffusion angle, flow ratio and area ratio decreased. In terms of performance, the head ratio increased by 30.46% after the optimization of the jet pump, and efficiency increased slightly. The proposed jet pump performance optimization method provides a reference for improving the performance of other pumps.

CFD simulation and analysis of the internal flow field of the annular multi-nozzle jet pump are carried out to study the effects of nozzle section geometries on performance of the pump based on the finite volume method and realizable k-ε model. The results show that the square nozzle peak efficiency is 3% higher than that of the circular nozzle and 4.1% higher than that of the triangular nozzle. According to the simulation results, the mixing mechanism of the working fluid and second fluid is analyzed on the basis of the vortex dynamics. The results show the following: the recirculation area and the friction loss of the non-circular nozzle are reduced, and the mixing effect is improved; the streamwise vortex plays a major role in the mixing process and decays to an extremely small value at the end of the throat after attenuating rapidly in the suction chamber; compared with the streamwise vortex, the strength of the spanwise vortex is relatively stronger; the spanwise vortex still fluctuates after developing to a certain extent in the throat; the maximum streamwise vorticity peak value of the square nozzle is 31% more than that of the circular nozzle and 39% more than that of the triangular nozzle; the maximum spanwise vorticity peak value of the square nozzle is 19% less than that of the circular nozzle and 12% less than that of the triangular nozzle.

Jet pump efficiency heavily relies on the geometrical parameters of the pump design and parameter global optimization in the full variable space is still a big challenge. This paper proposed a global optimization method for annular jet pump design combining computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation, the Kriging approximate model and experimental data. The suction angle, the flow ratio, the diffusion angle, and the area ratio are selected as the design variables for optimization. The optimal space filling design (OSF) method is used to generate sampling points from the design space of the four design variables. The optimization method solves the constrained optimization problem with a given head ratio by building the functional relationship established by the Kriging model between efficiency and design parameters, which makes the method more applicable. The design result shows that the annular jet pump efficiency is predicted well by the Kriging model; m is a key variable affecting the annular jet pump efficiency. As the area ratio m decreases, the mixing effect at the suction chamber outlet can be improved, but the frictional resistance increases.

In order to clean up marine fouling attached to marine steel pile, this paper proposed an innovative configuration scheme of the marine steel pile cleaning equipment by the scraping method and its telescopic mechanism by applying a multi-cylinder synchronous control strategy to the cleaning equipment, and produced a test prototype of the cleaning equipment that could solve the problem of cleaning equipment eccentricity and tilt in the field of ocean engineering. Based on the MATLAB Simulink module, a simulation model of the operation process of the telescopic mechanism of the marine steel pile cleaning equipment was established to complete the evaluation of the multi-cylinder synchronous control performance under multiple working conditions. Through the test, the synchronous working performance of the telescopic mechanism of the cleaning equipment under the no-load condition was preliminarily verified. The test results showed that under the no-load condition, the relative errors between the three cylinders and the target displacement were 0.8%, 0.4%, and 0.2%, respectively, and the cleaning equipment could reach the specified working position at the given working speed. The displacement synchronization error between each cylinder was 0.7 mm, 0.7 mm, and 0.6 mm, respectively, and the displacement synchronization error was controlled within 1 mm. The telescopic mechanism had good synchronization, which can ensure the stability and prevent the eccentricity and tilt during the cleaning equipment operation as well as provide a valuable reference for the manufacturing of cleaning equipment.