Ducted Marine Thruster (Kort Nozzle) Hydrodynamic Thrust

Marine Hydrodynamics (CFD)PASS · 2.49%

Hydrodynamic axial thrust and momentum balance for a Kort nozzle ducted marine thruster with 3-blade stator assembly in a towing channel, verified against Kort nozzle momentum theory.

Tolerance:: 5%

Open & Solve in BrowserSign in or register to launch this verified model in WebCAE

Open & Solve in Browser

Problem statement

Geometry: Rectangular water channel 580 × 360 × 360 mm enclosing a Kort nozzle duct, streamlined center hub (diam 56 mm), and 3 stator blades pitched at 28°.
Material: Water at 20 °C (rho = 998.2 kg/m³, mu = 1.002e-3 Pa·s).
Boundary conditions: Inlet velocity U = 6.0 m/s along +X (intensity 5%), outlet gauge pressure 0 Pa, channel outer walls slip symmetry, thruster hub, duct, and stator blades no-slip viscous walls.
Measured quantity: Total axial hydrodynamic thrust force Fx (target 16.50 kN from momentum theory, computed 16.09 kN) and overall duct drag coefficient CD.

WebCAE Terminal

Paste these commands into the Terminal panel inside WebCAE. They use the same text DSL as the application; run one command per line:

units mm
import path="cfd_marine_thruster_duct.step" format=step
mesh tet size=38
cfd fluid water
cfd set mode=steady speed=6.0 turbulence=sst iterations=180 tol=1e-4 intensity=5 multigrid=0 cfl=4.0 threads=8
cfd inlet surface number 1 speed=6.0 intensity=0.05
cfd outlet surface number 6 pressure=0
cfd symmetry surface number 2
cfd symmetry surface number 3
cfd symmetry surface number 4
cfd symmetry surface number 5
cfd wall surface number 7 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 8 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 9 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 10 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 11 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 12 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 13 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 14 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 15 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 16 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 17 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 18 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 19 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 20 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 21 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 22 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 23 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 24 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 25 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 26 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 27 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 28 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 29 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 30 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 31 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 32 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 33 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 34 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 35 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 36 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 37 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 38 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 39 monitor=on
solve cfd

Results comparison

Reference value	16.50 kN
Our result	16.09 kN
Deviation	2.49%
Tolerance	5%
Status	PASS · 2.49%
Element family	Finite-volume CFD
Mesh details	2727 узлов, 11755 тет (Netgen P1 tet mesh, насадка Корта + 3 лопасти статора)

Updated: 2026-10-19 · WebCAE solver