Formation control of multiple underwater vehicles subject to communication faults and uncertainties

This paper proposes a novel approach to analyze and design the formation keeping control protocols for multiple underwater vehicles in the presence of communication faults and possible uncertainties. First, we formulate the considered vehicle model as the Port-controlled Hamiltonian form, and introduce the spring-damping system based formation control. Next, the dynamics of multiple underwater vehicles under uncertain relative information is reformulated as a network of Lur’e systems. Moreover, the agents under unknown disturbances generated by an external system are considered, where the internal model is applied to tackle the uncertainties, which still can be regulated as the Lur’e systems. In each case, the formation control is derived from solving LMI problems. Finally, a numerical example is introduced to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed theoretical approach.     

Experimental investigation on a cabin-suspended catamaran in terms of motion reduction and wave energy harvesting by means of a semi-active motion control system

A novel concept catamaran equipped with a suspended cabin, named Wave Harmonizer Type 4 (WHzer-4), is proposed and evaluated. The mass-spring-mass system is constructed by mounting four sets of suspensions in-between the cabin and the twin-hull. Two sets of dual motor/generators (M/Gs) are attached on the center beam of the cabin's deck fore and aft. Each shaft-end of the dual M/Gs is connected to the twin-hull through a rack-pinion gear unit. In this way the vertical relative motion between the cabin and the twin-hull can be transferred into the rotational motion of the M/Gs, and vice versa. A semi-active motion control system, which contains a proportional-integral (PI) controller, is designed and applied to each of the dual M/Gs for the aim of absorbing wave energy under the condition of suppressing the local vertical velocity of the cabin as much as possible. A 1/5 scale model ship with a length of 1.6 m is built, and a forced-oscillation bench test is implemented to validate the performance of the control system. Then, a series of towing tank tests is carried out in regular head waves. The heave and pitch responses of the cabin, those of the twin-hull and the corresponding wave energy capture width ratio (CWR) at five control scenarios and two reference scenarios are investigated. Discussion on the results of the tank test shows that the motion reduction of the cabin and the wave energy harvesting can be achieved simultaneously at a few wave conditions. However, at other conditions, although noticeable amount of wave energy is harvested, motion reduction of the heave and pitch of the cabin could not be obtained at the same time. It is suggested that varying the gain settings of the PI controllers according to the location of the controllers may improve the effectiveness of the proposed control system.     

Experimental study on hydrodynamic performance of SWATH vessels in calm water and in head waves

An extensive experimental investigation on four SWATH hull forms has been conducted in calm water and in regular waves at University of Naples Federico II. Calm water tests have been analyzed in the range of Froude number Fr_T from 0.1 to 0.6. For all four SWATH configurations at the speed, corresponding to Fr_T 0.32, the behaviour in regular waves has been tested. The results of heave, pitch and vertical accelerations are presented in nondimensional form as RAO. For the “most promising” SWATH #4 configuration, a set of stabilizing fins have been designed and an active stabilization system has been developed. The developed SWATH#5 has been tested in calm water on three displacements in the range of Fr_T from 0.1 to 0.65. The dynamic wetted surface has been identified and the residual resistance coefficient C_R as well as R_T/Δ are reported. Seakeeping tests have been performed in regular head sea and in head and following irregular sea at Fr_T = 0.50. The conditions for the occurrence of dynamic longitudinal instabilities have been identified. The results allows to comment the effect of slenderness of struts and SWATH’s immersed bodies on resistance and seakeeping and concerns the applicability of SWATH concept to small craft.     

Feedback control system for blow-out preventer positioning

During the drilling of ultra-deep-water subsea petroleum wells, a blow-out preventer (BOP), a piece of safety equipment, must be assembled on the wellhead. The BOP is suspended using the drilling riser during the wellhead approach operation, and the riser's top end is connected to the floating platform rig. This article presents a feedback control system for the automatic approach of the BOP to the wellhead. Compared to state-of-the-art controls, ours does not require ancillary thrusters installed alongside the riser nor inclination sensors atop of the drilling riser. Additionally, our proposed control embeds a closed-loop dynamic positioning system, thus retaining the characteristics of the original control system and adding an extra closed-loop. This eases implementation of the BOP approach control to an existing platform. To calculate the optimal gains for the BOP controller, we assume a linear system for the riser, including only the pendulum-shape. The simulation is carried out using nonlinear models for both riser and floating platform. We assume an International Towing Tank Conference standard semi-submersible platform, coupled with a 3000-m free-hanging vertical riser for the time-domain simulation. The results show the BOP tracking to be a step-shaped input signal under current and wave loads. A discussion of the performance of feedback control under different environmental loads is also included.     

A Holistic Approach to Upwelling and Downwelling along the South-West Coast of India

An attempt has been made to develop a holistic understanding of upwelling and downwelling along the south-west coast of India. The main objective was to elucidate the roles of different forcings involved in the vertical motion along this coast. The south-west coast of India was characterized by upwelling during the south-west monsoon (May to September) and by downwelling during the north-east monsoon and winter (November to February). The average vertical velocity calculated along the south-west coast from the vertical shift of the 26?°C isotherm is 0.57?m/day during upwelling and 0.698?m/day during downwelling. It was concluded that upwelling along the south-west coast of India is driven by offshore Ekman transport due to the alongshore wind, Ekman pumping, horizontal divergence of currents and by the propagation of coastally trapped waves. Whereas downwelling along the coast is driven only by convergence of currents and the propagation of coastally trapped Kelvin waves. Along the west coast of India, the downwelling-favorable Kelvin waves come from the equator and upwelling-favorable waves come from the Gulf of Mannar region.     

围海造陆条件下排海高温浓盐水对渤海湾温盐场分布影响模拟及预测

自2000年以来围绕渤海湾的围海工程剧增,致使工程区附近潮流场发生变化,进而影响排海高温浓盐水的时空分布特征。本文通过建立2000年和2015年两种不同岸线、地形条件下的三维数学模型对渤海湾沿岸3个电厂高温浓盐水表层排海问题进行模拟,研究结果表明,渤海湾的潮流场和高温浓盐水输移扩散特征在近十几年发生了较大变化:工程后,渤海湾平均盐度增大0.203,平均温度升高了0.105℃,同时曹妃甸附近海域浓盐水输移扩散速度明显增加。增大排放口流量至12.7 m3/s,湾内最高温度为26.46℃,较2015年最高温度增加了2.72℃。本文模型可准确模拟及预测排海废水盐度、温度分布特征,为合理布置水电联产设备排放口的位置提供理论基础。     

Upper ocean high resolution regional modeling of the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal

In this paper, effort is made to demonstrate the quality of high-resolution regional ocean circulation model in realistically simulating the circulation and variability properties of the northern Indian Ocean(10°S–25°N,45°–100°E) covering the Arabian Sea(AS) and Bay of Bengal(BoB). The model run using the open boundary conditions is carried out at 10 km horizontal resolution and highest vertical resolution of 2 m in the upper ocean.The surface and sub-surface structure of hydrographic variables(temperature and salinity) and currents is compared against the observations during 1998–2014(17 years). In particular, the seasonal variability of the sea surface temperature, sea surface salinity, and surface currents over the model domain is studied. The highresolution model's ability in correct estimation of the spatio-temporal mixed layer depth(MLD) variability of the AS and BoB is also shown. The lowest MLD values are observed during spring(March-April-May) and highest during winter(December-January-February) seasons. The maximum MLD in the AS(BoB) during December to February reaches 150 m (67 m). On the other hand, the minimum MLD in these regions during March-April-May becomes as low as 11–12 m. The influence of wind stress, net heat flux and freshwater flux on the seasonal variability of the MLD is discussed. The physical processes controlling the seasonal cycle of sea surface temperature are investigated by carrying out mixed layer heat budget analysis. It is found that air-sea fluxes play a dominant role in the seasonal evolution of sea surface temperature of the northern Indian Ocean and the contribution of horizontal advection, vertical entrainment and diffusion processes is small. The upper ocean zonal and meridional volume transport across different sections in the AS and BoB is also computed. The seasonal variability of the transports is studied in the context of monsoonal currents.     

卡里马塔海峡水体交换的季节变化

Four trawl-resistant bottom mounts, with acoustic Doppler current profilers(ADCPs) embedded, were deployed in the Karimata Strait from November 2008 to June 2015 as part of the South China Sea-Indonesian Seas Transport/Exchange and Impact on Seasonal Fish Migration(SITE) Program, to estimate the volume and property transport between the South China Sea and Indonesian seas via the strait. The observed current data reveal that the volume transport through the Karimata Strait exhibits significant seasonal variation. The winteraveraged(from December to February) transport is –1.99 Sv(1 Sv=1×10~6 m~3/s), while in the boreal summer(from June to August), the average transport is 0.69 Sv. Moreover, the average transport from January 2009 to December2014 is –0.74 Sv(the positive/negative value indicates northward/southward transport). May and September are the transition period. In May, the currents in the Karimata Strait turn northward, consistent with the local monsoon. In September, the southeasterly trade wind is still present over the strait, driving surface water northward, whereas the bottom flow reverses direction, possibly because of the pressure gradient across the strait from north to south.     

An interpretation of wave refraction and its influence on foreshore sediment distribution

To analyze the grain size and depositional environment of the foreshore sediments, a study was undertaken on wave refraction along the wide sandy beaches of central Tamil Nadu coast. The nearshore waves approach the coast at 45° during the northeast(NE) monsoon, at 135° during the southwest(SW) monsoon and at 90° during the non-monsoon or fair-weather period with a predominant wave period of 8 and 10 s. A computer based wave refraction pattern is constructed to evaluate the trajectories of shoreward propagating waves along the coast in different seasons. The convergent wave rays during NE monsoon, leads to high energy wave condition which conveys a continuous erosion at foreshore region while divergent and inept condition of rays during the SW and non-monsoon, leads to moderate and less energy waves that clearly demarcates the rebuilt beach sediments through littoral sediment transport. The role of wave refraction in foreshore deposits was understood by grain size and depositional environment analysis. The presence of fine grains with the mixed population, during the NE monsoon reveals that the high energy wave condition and sediments were derived from beach and river environment. Conversely, the presence of medium grains with uniform population, during SW and non-monsoon attested less turbulence and sediments were derived from prolong propagation of onshore-offshore wave process.These upshots are apparently correlated with the in situ beach condition. On the whole, from this study it is understood that beaches underwent erosion during the NE monsoon and restored its original condition during the SW and non-monsoon seasons that exposed the stability of the beach and nearshore condition.     

基于HYCOM再分析数据研究琉球海流的形成与起源

The origin of the Ryukyu Current(RC) and the formation of its subsurface velocity core were investigated using a 23-year(1993–2015) global Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model(HYCOM) dataset. The volume transport of the RC comes from the Kuroshio eastward branch(KEB) east of Taiwan and part of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre(pNPSG). From the surface to 2 000 m depth, the KEB(p-NPSG) transport contributes 41.5%(58.5%) to the mean total RC transport. The KEB originally forms the subsurface velocity core of the RC east of Taiwan due to blockage of the subsurface Kuroshio by the Ilan Ridge(sill depth: 700 m). Above 700 m, the Kuroshio can enter the East China Sea(ECS) over the Ilan Ridge, meanwhile, the blocked Kuroshio below 700 m turns to the right and flows along the Ryukyu Islands. With the RC flowing northeastward, the p-NPSG contribution strengthens the subsurface maximum structure of the RC owing to the blockage of the Ryukyu Ridge. In the surface layer, the pNPSG cannot form a stable northeastward current due to frequent disturbance by mesoscale eddies and water exchange through the gaps(with net volume transport into ECS) between the Ryukyu Islands.