Numerical Analysis of LBV150 ROV Thruster Performance Under Open Water Test Condition

Abstract

Remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) research has increased remarkably because of the technological improvements in ROV’s. The LBV150 ROV is a highly-maneuverable miniROV of the SeaBotix Incorporation serving a range of military, commercial, and scientific, which uses HPDC 1507 thrusters for the propulsion system. In this article, the simulation for the LBV150 ROV thruster performance during forward mode under open water test condition is developed together with OpenFOAM. The static thrust coefficient of the thruster obtained from the simulation is validated by the acceptance testing of this thruster in the open water channel at HCMUT. So, the other characteristics of the thruster performance including thrust coefficient, power coefficient, efficiency, pressure distribution as well as velocity of flow around the thruster, etc. could be produced as the result of the simulation. The proposed numerical analysis could help to develop a simulation tool for the design of miniROV propulsion system.