Structural design of the composite blades for a marine ducted propeller based on a two-way fluid-structure interaction method

Compared to metal materials, fiber-reinforced composites have many advantages such as higher specific strength, higher specific stiffness, lighter weight, better damping performance, and better design ability. By reasonably choosing the material and arranging the stacking sequence, the directional stiffness properties of composite laminates can be tailored to match the actual needs. Hence, the effects of the laminate type on the performance of the composite ducted propeller in both hydrodynamic and structural are analyzed in this paper. The two-way fluid-structure interaction (FSI) method is applied to the composite ducted propeller, whose hydrodynamic performance is compared with the metallic one. The efficiency, deformation, stress, failure and pitch angle properties are compared with different laminate types under various working conditions. Moreover, a parameter optimization method is proposed to obtain the most suitable laminate type for the composite ducted propeller with the optimum hydrodynamic performance and structural properties. The research results can provide references for the design of composite ducted propellers.