Wave effects on ascending and descending motions of the autonomous underwater vehicle

In the paper, a hydrodynamic model including the characteristics of maneuvering and seakeeping is developed to simulate the six-degree of freedom motions of the underwater vehicle steering near the sea surface. The corresponding wave exciting forces on the underwater vehicle moving in waves are calculated by the strip theory, which is based on the source distribution method. With the hydrodynamic coefficients relevant to the maneuvering and seakeeping, the fourth-order Runge–Kutta numerical method is adopted to solve the equations of motions and six-degrees of freedom of the motions for the underwater vehicle steering near the free surface can be obtained. The wave effect on the corresponding motions of the underwater vehicle is investigated and some interesting phenomena with respect to different wave frequencies and headings are observed. The hydrodynamic numerical model developed here can be served as a valuable tool for analyzing the ascending and descending behaviors of the underwater vehicle near the sea surface.     

Hull hydrodynamic optimization of autonomous underwater vehicles operating at snorkeling depth

Traditionally autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) have been built with a torpedo-like shape. This common shaping is hydrodynamically suboptimal for those AUVs required to operate at snorkeling condition near the free surface. In this case, the wave resistance associated to the wavy deformation of the sea surface induced by the motion of the platform is an important component of the drag. This work has investigated the optimum hull shape of an underwater vehicle moving near the free surface. Specifically a first-order Rankine panel method has been implemented to compute the wave resistance on a body of revolution moving close to the free surface. A simulated annealing algorithm was then employed to search those set of parameters defining the hull shape that minimize the wave resistance. The optimization was constrained to keep constant the total volume of the vehicle. The total drag of scaled models of the torpedo-like and resulting optimum shapes was measured in the naval tank of the University of Trieste. Measurements showed a smaller resistance of the optimized shape in the range of the considered Froude numbers.     

Wall effect of underwater explosion load based on wave motion theories

Owing to the existence of the flow field boundary, the shock wave load near the boundary is different from the freefield shock wave load. In the present paper, the hull plate load subjected to underwater shock wave is investigated based onwave motion theories; in addition, the experimental study of the hull plate load is carried out. According to the theoreticalanalysis of the hull plate pressure, we find that the hull plate pressure oscillates repeatedly and decays rapidly with timepassing, the maximum hull plate pressure is 2/（1＋n） times the maximum free field pressure, where n is the ratio ofimpedance, and the impulse is much smaller than the free field impulse. Compared with the experimental study, thetheoretical results agree well with the experimental data.     

Numerical analysis of control surface effects on AUV manoeuvrability

Computational fluid dynamics, CFD, is becoming an essential tool in the prediction of the hydrodynamic efforts and flow characteristics of underwater vehicles for manoeuvring studies. However, when applied to the manoeuvrability of autonomous underwater vehicles, AUVs, most studies have focused on the determination of static coefficients without considering the effects of the vehicle control surface deflection. This paper analyses the hydrodynamic efforts generated on an AUV considering the combined effects of the control surface deflection and the angle of attack using CFD software based on the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes formulations. The CFD simulations are also independently conducted for the AUV bare hull and control surface to better identify their individual and interference efforts and to validate the simulations by comparing the experimental results obtained in a towing tank. Several simulations of the bare hull case were conducted to select the k–ω SST turbulent model with the viscosity approach that best predicts its hydrodynamic efforts. Mesh sensitivity analyses were conducted for all simulations. For the flow around the control surfaces, the CFD results were analysed according to two different methodologies, standard and nonlinear. The nonlinear regression methodology provides better results than the standard methodology does for predicting the stall at the control surface. The flow simulations have shown that the occurrence of the control surface stall depends on a linear relationship between the angle of attack and the control surface deflection. This type of information can be used in designing the vehicle's autopilot system.     

Hydrodynamic derivatives and motion response of a submersible surface ship in unbounded water

A submersible surface ship (SSS) is based on a novel concept that the SSS goes on surface like conventional ships in moderate seas but goes underwater in rough seas to the depth sufficient to avoid wave effects. The SSS has a wing system that produces downward lift to go underwater with preserving the residual buoyancy for its safety. The SSS is expected to be able to keep both safety and punctuality even if it encounters unexpected bad weather.The motion of the SSS is studied. The equations of motion are formulated and the procedures for estimating hydrodynamic derivatives are presented. The hydrodynamic derivatives are estimated for a SSS having a configuration, a hull with a pair of main wings and a pair of horizontal tail wings. Using these estimated hydrodynamic derivatives, calculation of the SSS motion is carried out.The calculation results show some specific aspects of the SSS especially for effects of the elevator of main wings and horizontal tail wings, aileron of main wings, rudder and propeller revolution. It is confirmed that the existence of static roll restoring moment and having large hull comparing with wing area play important roles in the motion of the SSS.     

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.     

A numerical modeling of hydrodynamic characteristics of various planing hull forms

A numerical algorithm based on the boundary element method (BEM) is presented for predicting the hydrodynamic characteristics of the various planing hull forms. The boundary integral equation is derived using Green's theorem on the wetted body surface and the free surface. The ventilation function at the transom is estimated with Doctor's empirical formula. This function is defined as the transom zone free surface boundary condition. The combined boundary integral equation and modified free surface boundary condition are simultaneously solved to determine the dipole on the wetted hull surface and the source on the free surface. The method is applied to investigate three examples of planing hulls, which include flat-plates, as well as wedge-shaped and variable deadrise planing hulls. Their hydrodynamic characteristics are calculated for different speeds. Computational results are presented and compared with existing theories and experiments. On the whole, the agreement between the present method and the selected experimental and numerical data is satisfactory.     

Design of ship's bow form by potential-based panel method

A surface panel method treating a boundary-value problem of the Dirichlet type with the free surface is presented to design a three-dimensional body corresponding to a prescribed pressure distribution. The free surface boundary condition is linearized with respect to the oncoming flow, and computed by four-point finite difference scheme. Sample designs for submerged spheroids and Wigley hull are carried out to demonstrate the stable convergence, the effectiveness and the robustness of the method. The design of a 5500TEU container carrier is performed with respect to reduction of the wave resistance. To reduce the wave resistance, calculated pressure on the hull surface is modified to have the lower fluctuation, and is applied as a Dirichlet type dynamic boundary condition on the hull surface. The designed hull form is verified to have the lower wave resistance than the initial one not only by computation but also by experiment.     

On the motions of the underwater remotely operated vehicle with the umbilical cable effect

In this paper, a hydrodynamic model is developed to simulate the six degrees of freedom motions of the underwater remotely operated vehicle (ROV) including the umbilical cable effect. The corresponding hydrodynamic forces on the underwater vehicle are obtained by the planar motion mechanism test technique. With the relevant hydrodynamic coefficients, the 4th-order Runge–Kutta numerical method is then adopted to solve the equations of motions of the ROV and the configuration of the umbilical cable. The multi-step shooting method is also suggested to solve the two-end boundary-value problem on the umbilical cable with respect to a set of first-order ordinary differential equation system. All operation simulations for the ROV including forward moving, ascending, descending, sideward moving and turning motions can be analyzed, either with or without umbilical cable effect. The current effect is also taken into consideration. The present results reveal that the umbilical cable indeed significantly affects the motion of the ROV and should not be neglected in the simulation.     

Investigation of a method for predicting AUV derivatives

The paper addresses the problem of autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) modelling and parameter estimation as a means to predict the dynamic performance of underwater vehicles and thus provide solid guidelines during their design phase. The use of analytical and semi-empirical (ASE) methods to estimate the hydrodynamic derivatives of a popular class of AUVs is discussed. A comparison is done with the results obtained by using computational fluid dynamics to evaluate the bare hull lift force distribution around a fully submerged body. An application is made to the estimation of the hydrodynamic derivatives of the MAYA AUV, an autonomous underwater vehicle developed under a joint Indian-Portuguese project. The estimates obtained were used to predict the turning diameter of the vehicle during sea trials.     

Numerical calculation of free-surface potential flow around a ship using the modified Rankine source panel method

A modified Rankine source panel method is presented for solving a linearized free-surface flow problem with respect to the double-body potential. The method of solution is based on the distribution of Rankine sources on the hull as well as its image and on the free surface. An iterative algorithm is used for determining the free surface and wave resistance using upstream finite difference operator. A verification of numerical modeling is made using the Wigley hull and the validity of the computer program is examined by comparing the details of wave profiles and wave making resistance with Series 60 model.     

Neumann-Michell theory-based multi-objective optimization of hull form for a naval surface combatant

A numerical multi-objective optimization procedure is proposed here to describe the development and application of a practical hydrodynamic optimization tool, OPTShip-SJTU. Three components including hull form modification module, hydrodynamic performance evaluation module and optimization module consist of this tool. The free-form deformation (FFD) method and shifting method are utilized as parametric hull surface modification techniques to generate a series of realistic hull forms subjected to geometric constraints, and the Neumann-Michell (NM) theory is implemented to predict the wave drag. Moreover, NSGA-II, a muti-objective genetic algorithm, is adopted to produce pareto-optimal front, and kriging model is used for predicting the total resistance during the optimization process to reduce the computational cost. Additionally, the analysis of variance (ANOVA) method is introduced to represent the influence of each design variable on the objective functions. In present work, a surface combatant DTMB Model 5415 is used as the initial design, and optimal solutions with obvious drag reductions at specific speeds are obtained. Eventually, three of optimal hulls are analyzed by NM theory and a RANS-based CFD solver naoe-FOAM-SJTU respectively. Numerical results confirm the availability and reliability of this multi-objective optimization tool.     

Influence of cavity shape on hydrodynamic noise by a hybrid LES-FW-H method

The flow past various mechanical cavity, which is a common structure on the surface of the underwater vehicle, and generating hydrodynamic noise has attracted considerable attention in recent years. In this paper, a hybrid method is presented to investigate the hydrodynamic noise induced by mechanical cavities with various shapes. With this method, the noise sources in the near wall turbulences or in the wake are computed by the large eddy simulation (LES) and the generation and propagation of the acoustic waves are solved by the Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings (FW-H) acoustic analogy method with acoustic source terms extracted from the time-dependent solutions of the unsteady flow. The feasibility and reliability of the current method was verified by comparing with experimental data (Wang, 2009). The 2D cavity models with different cross-section shapes and 3D cavity models with different cavity mouth shapes (rectangular and circular) are developed to study the influence of cavity shape on the hydrodynamic noise. By comparing the flow mechanisms, wall pressure fluctuations, near-field and far-field sound propagation distributions, it is found that the quadrangular cavity with equal depths of leading-edge and trailing-edge is preferred for its inducing lower hydrodynamic noise than the cylindrical cavity does.     

Computation of wave-making resistance of a catamaran in deep water using a potential-based panel method

This paper presents a potential-based boundary element method for solving a nonlinear free-surface flow problem for a Wigley catamaran moving with a uniform speed in deep water. Since the interior flow of each monohull of the catamaran is different from the exterior flow, both monohulls must be considered as lifting bodies. The pressure Kutta condition is imposed at the trailing-edge of the lifting body by determining the dipole distribution, which generates required circulation on the lifting part. The effects of wave interference and hull separation on the hydrodynamic characteristics of the catamaran hull are analyzed and the validity of the computer scheme is examined by comparing the wave resistance with the numerical results of others. The present method could be a useful design tool for screening the suitable combinations of hull parameters and hull spacing at the preliminary design stage of catamaran hull.     

水下自主机器人水动力预报方法研究

针对水下机器人操纵性优化设计中水动力系数预报问题,在水下机器人水动力预报中引入艇体肥瘦指数概念,确定了水下机器人艇体几何描述的五参数模型。提出采用小波神经网络方法预报水下机器人水动力,确定了神经网络的结构,利用均匀试验设计方法,设计了神经网络的学习样本。研究结果表明,只要确定适当的输入参数,选择适当的学习样本和网络结构,利用小波神经网络方法对水下机器人水动力进行预报可以达到较好的精度。     

A combined method for the hydrodynamic characteristics of planing crafts

The prediction of the total resistance of planing crafts at high speeds is very important. In this paper, a combined method is investigated for determining the hydrodynamic characteristics of planing crafts in the calm water. The study consists of a potential-based boundary element method (BEM) for the induced pressure resistance, the boundary layer theory for the frictional resistance and practical method for the spray resistance. The planing surface is represented by a number of elements with constant velocity potential at each element. The unknown-induced pressure is obtained by using the free surface elevation condition and the Kutta condition at the transom stern. Hydrodynamic-induced resistance and lift are determined by the calculated dynamic pressure distributions. The boundary layer analysis method is based on calculations of the momentum integral equation applied to obtain the frictional resistance. A particular practical approach is introduced to present the region of the upwash geometry for the spray. A numerical program has been developed for the present research and applied to the hull form of the craft. Four different hull forms of Series 62 model 4666 planing craft are presented. It is shown that the present combined method is efficient and the results are in good agreement with the experimental measurements over a wide range of volumetric Froude numbers.     

Experimental and numerical investigations on hydrodynamic and aerodynamic characteristics of the tunnel of planing trimaran

The planing trimaran possesses distinctive hybrid hydrodynamic and aerodynamic performance due to the presence of tunnel. The research described in this paper was carried out based on the observation of wave characteristics of a planing trimaran model in towing tests, in which the resistance drops as soon as the wave surface separates from tunnel roof. In order to gain a deeper insight into the relationship between wave flow and forces in tunnel region, a comprehensive series of viscous CFD simulations considering free-surface and 2-DOF motion of the hull (heave and pitch) have been performed for the tested model at the volume based Froude numbers ranging from 3.16 to 5.87. The calculated results were validated by comparison with experimental data and showed good agreement. Numerical results of wave contours, longitudinal wave cuts and lifting force distributions at the calculated speeds were presented for the analysis of ventilation process in tunnel region and the corresponding variation of tunnel forces. It is found that, for the speeds higher than Froude number of 4.52, the aerodynamic forces provide major tunnel lift and mainly act on the straight section of the tunnel. And, therefore, numerical simulations of two modified models have also been performed for the analysis of influence of straight section length on the hydrodynamic and aerodynamic performance of planing trimaran.     

压力公式的修正及其在波浪荷载计算中的应用

计入前进速度流动与非定常流动之间的干扰,修正了切片法中计算压力的公式,从而建立了计算波浪荷载的方法,开发了相应的计算机程序。计算实例同国内外有关资料的比较表明结果吻合良好,为船舶与海洋结构物结构有限元分析程序提供了有效的前处理模块     

Hydrodynamic shape optimization by high fidelity CFD solver and Gaussian process based response surface method

A computational framework for hydrodynamic shape optimization of complex ship hull form is proposed and applied to improve the calm water performance of the KRISO Container Ship (KCS). The framework relies on three key features: a novel shape morphing method based on a combination of subdivision surfaces and free form deformations, a robust three dimensional viscous computational fluid dynamic solver based on the openFOAM open-source libraries and a Gaussian process-response surface method (GP-RSM) based on ordinary Kriging model which has been created to speed-up the evaluation of the quantity of interest (QoI) of the design process.The accuracy of the hydrodynamic solver is proven by comparing the obtained results against available experimental measurements. A preliminary sensitivity analysis on the mesh size has been carried out aiming at reducing the computational burden required by the CFD predictions. Three GP-RSMs have been trained relying on increasing number of hull designs. Each surrogate model has been cross-validated by both leave-one-out and k-fold techniques. The behaviours of these multi-dimensional surfaces have been analyzed in details by sampling the investigated design space with 10⁷ points according to a Full-Factorial algorithm, highlighting the regions of maximum deviation with respect to the resistance of the reference hull. The three optimum designs provided by the corresponding GP-RSM models have been verified by using high-fidelity CFD simulations with a refined mesh configuration. Calm water resistance, wave patterns and pressure distributions over the selected hull surfaces have been discussed in the light of the generated shape variations.     

Open-Loop Control of a Multifin Biorobotic Rigid Underwater Vehicle

This paper presents an open-loop control system for a new experimental vehicle, named the biorobotic autonomous underwater vehicle (BAUV). The rigid cylindrical hull of the vehicle is attached with six strategically located fins to produce forces and moments in all orthogonal directions and axes with minimal redundancy. The fins are penguin-wing inspired and they implement the unsteady high-lift principle found widely in swimming and flying animals. The goal has been to design an underwater vehicle that is highly maneuverable by taking the inspiration from nature where unsteady hydrodynamic principles of lift generation and the phase synchronization of fins are common. We use cycle-averaged experimental data to analyze the hydrodynamic forces and moments produced by a single foil as a function of its kinematic motion parameters. Given this analysis, we describe a method for synthesizing and coordinating the sinusoidal motion of all six foils to produce any desired resultant mean force and moment vectors on the vehicle. The mathematics behind the resulting algorithm is elegant and effective, yielding compact and efficient implementation code. The solution method also considers and accommodates the inherent physical constraints of the foil actuators. We present laboratory experimental results that demonstrate the solution method and the vehicle's resulting high maneuverability.