Magnetohydrodynamics propulsion: a global approach of an inner DC thruster

摘要

Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) applied to sea water is able to provide a noiseless ship propulsion. As the principle is known since the sixties, many works have been performed in the nineties aiming at better efficiences due to superconducting electromagnets use. A one-dimensional global calculation is made in order to determine the best geometry of a MHD propeller, the different parts of which are the magnitude of the magnetic field and the superconducting material. This global model relies on hypotheses which are verified by fluid mechanics two-dimensional calculation to detemine the flow response to MHD forces applied in the propeller, using the code Fluent. These two complementary approaches to the problem enable testing different shapes of propellers to reach the best efficiency.