Simulation studies of the response of deeply towed vehicle to various towing ship maneuvers

The behavior of a long cable towed at slow speeds through the ocean depends in a complex fashion on the path followed by the towing ship relative to the water. A cable simulation program was used to characterize the response of the cable by using idealized towing ship maneuvers as input to the program. The response of the cable was noted and it was found that the behavior of the cable was strongly dependent on the fundamental period of the towing vessel maneuvers. Sinusoidal deviations of the towing ship from a straight towing track resulted in delayed and reduced excursions of the towed vehicle from the tract; the estimated response ratio varied from 0·002 to 0·800, depending both on the period of the deviations (periods ranged from 5·5 to 4·0 hr) and on the towing depth (2 or 6 km). The ship's speed was 3 km/hr. The time lag between ship motion and vehicle response was approximately 0·5 hr for the shallow case and 1·3 hr for the deep case. Simulations runs of a low dragk (faired) cable showed that the behavior of the vehicle when towed at a depth of 6 km was similar to that obtained with a conventional cable at 2 km depth. The response of the towed vehicle to a right-angle turn of the towing ship was investigated and a generalized model of the response developed. The effects of a controllable side force on the towed vehicle were also simulated and it was noted that a deviation (2-hr period) of the towed vehicle from a straight-line track could be reduced from 40 to 2 m by impressing a side force on the vehicle with an average magnitude of 150 newtons (30 lb).     

Towed cable behaviour during ship turning manoeuvers

The results of dynamic and steady-state cable simulations are used to show that a towed system can behave in either of two different ways on entering a turn. In a large radius turn the system maintains its straight-tow equilibrium configuration but in a slightly perturbed form. In a turn of small radius the system effectively collapses resulting in a large increase of fish depth and cable tension. A formula is included by which the approximate minimum radius of turn that does not precipitate collapse can be quickly calculated.Non-dimensional tables are presented giving details of the equilibrium configuration adopted by the cable when the ship maintains a circular course.Graphs are presented from which the time constants for the decay of lateral and longitudinal disturbances of 2-D cable profiles can be easily calculated. These can be used to estimate the time taken for a towed system to return to equilibrium following a manoeuvre.The derivation of the equations for the steady-state configurations and the time constants are included in appendices.     

基于模糊神经网络理论对水下拖曳体进行深度轨迹控制

以华南理工大学开发的自主稳定可控制水下拖曳体为研究对象,首先通过水下拖曳体在拖曳水池样机中的试验取得试验数据后作为训练样本,采用LM BP算法,建立基于神经网络理论构建的可控制水下拖曳体轨迹与姿态水动力的数值模型。在此基础上设计了一个控制系统,它主要由两部分组成:基于遗传算法的神经网络辨识器和基于模拟退火改进的遗传算法的模糊神经网络控制器。以满足预先设定的拖曳体水下监测轨迹要求为控制依据,由控制系统确定为达到所要求的运动轨迹而应采用的迫沉水翼转角,以此作为输入参数,通过LM BP神经网络模型的模拟计算预报在这一操纵动作控制下的拖曳体所表现的轨迹与姿态特征。数值模拟计算结果表明:该系统的设计达到了所要求的目的;借助这一系统,可以有效地实现对拖曳体的深度轨迹控制。     

波浪作用下缆船拖带系统非线性运动数值模拟

基于船舶操纵性运动方程和拖缆的三维动力学运动方程,提出了被拖点位置匹配的方法,建立了拖船—拖缆—被拖船系统整体非线性拖带动力学模型。为了考察被拖船航向稳定性与横向稳性的关系以及波浪载荷作用的影响,被拖船采用水平面四自由度运动方程,并引入了波浪的作用力和力矩。拖船采用PD控制方法较真实地模拟了拖船航向改变的运动过程。对一个拖船—拖缆—被拖船系统(5 000 t的拖船和3 000 t的被拖船)在时域内进行了规则波浪作用下拖带运动的模拟,计算结果表明被拖带船舶在波浪中运动呈现运动稳定、不稳定和临界状态3种可能的特性。根据模拟计算结果,认为波浪中拖带航向稳定是被拖带船舶保持稳性的必要条件。     

Parameters influence on maneuvered towed cable system dynamics

The dynamic response of a towed cable system to ship maneuver is parametrically simulated. Three dimensionless parameters influence on towed cable system maneuverability is investigated. They are ratio of total length to turning radius R/L, ratio of cable mass to vehicle mass σ, and ratio of mass unit length to hydrodynamic force w/r. An oscillatory motion of towed vehicle is found in simulation of spiral towed courses. Features of this oscillation in different spiral courses are compared. The sharp turns, gradual turns and their transient states of towed cable dynamics for different course directions are discussed extensively. According to the characters of transient states and horizontal trajectories evolution of maneuvered cable system, the dynamic behaviors can be divided into three situations in Fig. 8 turning maneuvers. The behavior of towed cable system during a zigzag turning course is simulated in the end. Two ingredients of heave motion are found during small ratio of turning radii to length in this course. The primary damp to initial turning becomes weak and the response to alternative turns plays a more and more important role. The damping properties of the transient behavior in different maneuvers show a periodical invariance to σ during some turning maneuvers.     

Numerical simulation of undersea cable dynamics

A fully three-dimensional code has been written to compute the motion of a towed cable. The code is based on a robust and stable finite difference approximation to the differential equations derived from basic dynamics. A 3500-ft (1.07 km) cable pulled at 18.5 knots (34.3 km hr⁻¹) through a circular turn of 700 yd (0.64 km) radius has been computed in about half of the real time of the maneuver. The computed displacements are close to the measured ones; the changes in depth are within 2%.     

Investigation on a two-part underwater manoeuvrable towed system

A hydrodynamic model of a two-part underwater manoeuvrable towed system is proposed in which a depressor is equipped with active horizontal and vertical control surfaces, and a towed vehicle is attached to the lower end of a primary cable. In such a system the towed vehicle can be manoeuvred in both vertical and horizontal planes when it is towed at a certain velocity and the coupling effect of excitations at the upper end of the primary cable and disturbances of control manipulations to the towed vehicle can be reduced. In the model the hydrodynamic behavior of an underwater vehicle is described by the six-degrees-of-freedom equations of motion for submarine simulations. The added masses of an underwater vehicle are obtained from the three-dimensional potential theory. The control surface forces of the vehicle are determined by the wing theory. The results indicate that with relative simple control measures a two-part underwater manoeuvrable towed system enables the towed vehicle to travel in a wide range with a stable attitude. The method in this model gives an effective numerical approach for determining hydrodynamic characteristics of an underwater vehicle especially when little or no experimental data are available or when costs prohibit doing experiments for determining these data.     

Computer aided piloting of a deeply towed vehicle

An instrumented vehicle is towed at the end of a 5 km long cable, gathering data about the deep sea floor and near-bottom water column. Although bottom-moored acoustic transponders are used to determine the vehicle and ship positions precisely and in real time, predicting the ship manoeuvers required to bring the vehicle over an area of interest on the sea floor is far from trivial for the ship driver. Computer software has been developed which recommends courses for the ship to steer so that the vehicle will pass near a desired target. In trials at sea, the computer steered the vehicle 80, 40 and 85 m from pre-selected targets. Analysis of the causes of the misses suggests future developments which may reduce the miss distance, provide information on current structure of the water column, and reduce the level of skill and attention required of the vehicle pilot.     

Analysis of the possibilities of aGALS-3 hydrophysical towed complex

We describe the characteristics of a towed complex used for measurements in the upper layer of the ocean under the conditions of periodic deepening and lifting (scanning) of a carrier with sensors connected with the ship by a weight-carrying cable of constant lengt. For a maximum scanning range of 0–200 m and a towing speed of up to 12 knots, the measurements were performed every 1.5–2.0 km. The minimum vertical scale of recorded temperature and conductivity inhomogeneities is 0.05–0.08 m. We present the results of measurements carried out by the towed complex in a section of the frontal zone in the north-east part of the Tropical Atlantic. Translated by Peter V. Malyshev and Dmitry V. Malyshev     

关于变深声纳(VDS)拖缆拖体系统漂移的研究

变深声纳（ＶＤＳ）拖航中，拖缆拖体系统偏离拖船纵中剖面的现象称为漂移。本文针对为解决某变深声纳拖缆拖体系统拖航时出现的严重漂移，介绍了漂移的危害，分析了漂移产生的原因，解决漂移的方法和试验研究结果。     

“Batfish” a depth controllable towed body for collecting oceanographic data

“Batfish” is a streamlined vehicle developed to house fast-responding oceanographic sensors. It is towed behind a ship or small vessel and its depth is controlled from the vessel by a manually or automatically produced command signal. Variable-angle wings permit the vehicle to be lowered and a novel control surface, which eliminates the need for heavy ballast, assures lateral stability. There are two models: the standard and the wide-wing Batfish. The standard Batfish has collected temperature and conductivity data at depths of up to 200 m when towed at 10–25 km/hr, and the wide-wing Batfish at depths to 400 m when towed at 10–16km/hr.     

Study on the Configuration of Towed Flexible Cables

Based on the fundamental equation of flexible cable dynamics for a towed system, an easily solved mathematical model is set up in this paper by means of appropriate simplification. Several regular patterns of spatial motion of towed flexible cables in water are obtained through numerical simulation with the finite difference method, and then modification and verification by trial results at sea. A technical support is provided for the towing ship to maneuver properly when a flexible cable is towed. Furthermore, the relations between two towed flexible cables, which are towed simultaneously by a ship, are investigated. The results show that the ship towing two flexible cables is safe under the suggested arrangement of two winches for the towing system, and the coiling/uncoiling sequences of the cables as well as the suggested way of maneuvering.     

A hydrodynamic model of a two-part underwater towed system

A three-dimensional model of a two-part underwater towed system is studied. In the model, the governing equations of cables are established based on the Ablow and Schechter method. The boundary conditions for the two-part underwater towed system are derived. The six-degrees-of-freedom equations of motion for submarine simulations are adopted to predict the hydrodynamic performance of a towed vehicle. The established governing equations for the system are then solved using a central finite difference method. In this paper several algorithms are used to solve this special form of finite difference equations. The results in this paper indicate that the two-part underwater towed system improves the dynamic behavior of the towed vehicle and is an easy way to decouple the towing ship motion from the towed vehicle. Because the model uses an implicit time integration, it is stable for large time steps and is an effective algorithm for simulation of a large-scale underwater towed system.     

The use of variable body forces to control the depth of towed submersibles

The relationship between the depth and trail attained by a towed submerged vehicle and the magnitude and direction of the forces on it has been examined theoretically, for cases involving faired cables.It is shown that when the body force is varied the body in equilibrium moves on an almost circular path as if the cable were straight, and that depth changes depend primarily upon the change in the component of the body force that acts at right angles to the line joining the top and bottom of the cable.Examples are given which demonstrate that for bodies towed at large depression angles the use of water brakes is more effective in changing depth than the use of lifting wings.The data is presented so that a rapid preliminary assessment can be made of any proposed system to obtain the best combination of speed and scope for achieving a given depth with a body having known lift and drag coefficients.     

Dynamic modeling of cable towed body using nodal position finite element method

This paper analyses nonlinear dynamics of cable towed body system. The cable has been modeled and analyzed using a new nodal position finite element method, which calculates the position of the cable directly instead of the displacement by the existing finite element method. The newly derived nodal position finite element method eliminates the need of decoupling the rigid body motion from the total motion, where numerical errors arise in the existing nonlinear finite element method, and the limitation of small rotation in each time step in the existing nonlinear finite element method. The towed body is modeled as a rigid body with six degrees of freedom while the tow ship motion is treated as a moving boundary to the system. A special procedure has been developed to couple the cable element with the towed body. The current approach can be used as design tool for achieving improved directional stability, maneuverability, safety and control characteristics with the cable towed body. The analysis results show the elegance and robustness of the proposed approach by comparing with the sea trial data.     

Predicting the equilibrium depth of a body towed by a faired cable

Comprehensive wind tunnel measurements have been made of the drag coefficients of both the body and the faired cable of a towed system. The drag data has been embodied in theoretical calculations of the depth attained in tow, at speed up to 3 m s⁻¹ (6 knots) with scopes up to 135 m (440 ft). The agreement with sea trial observations is excellent.The work has highlighted the importance of accounting for the variation of faired cable drag with cable angle and has shown that the drag increments due to gaps and misalignments between individual fairing elements cannot be ignored.Methods are derived for estimating these effects for application to other faired cable towed systems.     

Effects of ship motion on a neutrally-stable towed fish

Digital computer simulation in two dimensions of a neutrally-stable fish towed on a faired cable has been used to investigate the response of the fish to disturbances in the ship motion. The numerical methods used are described broadly, excluding mathematical detail, and selected results are presented which indicate typical behaviour of the system.The free oscillations of the fish-cable system and its response to deterministic and random ship disturbances are investigated. This reveals the dynamic principles governing the motion and allows the formulation of simple rules to give a first approximation to the magnitude of the fish response. It is shown that, provided resonances of the ship and fish-cable system do not coincide, the overall amplitude of motion of the fish is proportional to the sine of the angle made by the top of the cable with the horizontal. Formulae are given for calculating approximately the resonant frequencies of the towed system.     

水下拖曳升沉补偿系统水动力数学模型研究

建立变缆长的水下拖曳升沉补偿系统水动力学偏微分方程组和边界条件.拖缆动力学模型基于Ablow and Schechter模型,拖体采用水下运载体六自由度方程模拟,运用有限差分法离散偏微分方程组和牛顿迭代法计算变缆长情况下拖体深度与拖缆各点张力的动态取值.数值计算结果表明采用收放拖缆的升沉补偿方法能够有效削弱母船升沉运动对拖体深度和拖缆张力的影响.     

Dynamic Analysis of Towed and Variable Length Cable Systems

Towed cable systems are frequently used in marine measurements where the length of the towed cable varies during launch and recovery. In this paper a novel method for modeling variable length cable systems is introduced based on the finite segment formulation. The variable length of the towed cable is described by changing the length of the segment near the towing point and by increasing or decreasing the number of the discrete segments of the cable. In this way, the elastic effects of the cable can be easily handled since geometry and material properties of each segment are kept constant. Experimental results show that the dynamic behavior of the towed cable is consistent between the model and the physical cable. Results show that the model provides numerical efficiency and simulation accuracy for the variable length towed system.     

Experimental investigation on a two-part underwater towed system

An experimental set-up is developed and proved to be effective for laboratory study of an underwater towed system. The experimental technique gives a practical method for monitoring the kinematic and dynamic performance of an underwater towed system in a ship towing tank. Both the theoretical and experimental results in the investigation indicate that the hydrodynamic response of a towed vehicle to the wave induced motion of a towing ship can be significantly reduced by applying a two-part tow method. A comparison of the numerical and experimental results in the investigation demonstrates that the numerical simulation results are close to the experimental data, overall agreement between experimental and theoretical results is satisfactory. The results qualitatively verify the mathematical model of a two-part underwater towed system proposed by Wu and Chwang [Wu, J., Chwang, A.T., 2000. A hydrodynamic model of a two-part underwater towed system. Ocean Engineering 27 (5), 455–472].