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RESEARCH TO EVALUATE THE TECHNOLOGICAL APPLICATION OF SWIRLING JETS IN THE FIELDS OF SEABED EXCAVATION, VESSEL PROPULSION AND UNDERWATER CLEANING

Objective

Participants in this research project share a common interest in swirling fluid jets, either from the standpoint of commercial exploitation, or fundamental scientific curiosity, or both. Swirling fluid jets can be created and studied in various ways, in nature and technology. The three project applications - seabed excavation, vessel propulsion and underwater cleaning, use jets formed by ducted-propellers and static swirl generator nozzles. Swirling jets are known to exhibit novel behaviour: thus, at a particular axial-to-swirl velocity ratio, a columnar jet can suddenly splay out into a plane-wall cone, with the primary flow energy being concentrated in the form of a thin conical sheet. Conical fan-jets, as they are known, have demonstrable utility for seabed excavation, and significant potential for the other two applications. However, they only exist over a limited range of flow parameters, and are susceptible to disturbances, which can cause dramatic and often undesirable changes in jet topology. Through preliminary R&D in the area of seabed excavation, means have been found to better control the formation and stability of conical jets. Provisional patents (held by one of the SMEs) cover basic design for the three application areas, and act as a catalyst for the project. However, to fully realise the inventions' cutting-edge potential, and enable the SMEs to jointly exploit the technology, detailed research into swirling jet dynamics and kinematics is required. RTD Performers have been purposely chosen with these research goals in mind, and to create an integrated, highly focussed, project team. Apart from the anticipated commercial-cum-scientific advancement for participants, potential Community benefits stemming from this research include: a more sustainable and environmentally-appropriate method of maintenance dredging; a more energy-efficient method of propelling and manoeuvring vessels at slow speed; a less hazardous means of underwater cleaning.

Fields of science

Programme(s)

Topic(s)

Call for proposal

FP6-2003-SME-1
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Funding Scheme

Data not available

Coordinator

KORT PROPULSION COMPANY LIMITED
EU contribution
No data
Address
Bank Chambers, 70 Pier Road
ERITH
United Kingdom

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Participants (12)

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Last update: 13 November 2008

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Permalink: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/17725

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