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.     

An Integrated Hydrodynamics and Control Model of A Tethered Underwater Robot

An integrated hydrodynamics and control model to simulate tethered underwater robot system is proposed. The governing equation of the umbilical cable is based on a finite difference method, the hydrodynamic behaviors of the underwater robot are described by the six-degrees-of-freedom equations of motion for submarine simulations, and a controller based on the fuzzy sliding mode control (FSMC) algorithm is also incorporated. Fluid motion around the main body of moving robot with running control ducted propellers is governed by the Navier–Stokes equations and these nonlinear differential equations are solved numerically via computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technique. The hydrodynamics and control behaviors of the tethered underwater robot under certain designated trajectory and attitude control manipulation are then investigated based on the established hydrodynamics and control model. The results indicate that satisfactory control effect can be achieved and hydrodynamic behavior under the control operation can be observed with the model; much kinematic and dynamic information about tethered underwater robot system can be forecasted, including translational and angular motions of the robot, hydrodynamic loading on the robot, manipulation actions produced by the control propellers, the kinematic and dynamic behaviors of the umbilical cable. Since these hydrodynamic effects are fed into the proposed coupled model, the mutual hydrodynamic influences of different portions of the robot system as well as the hydrological factors of the undersea environment for the robot operation are incorporated in the model.     

A Geometrically Exact Formulation for Three-Dimensional Numerical Simulation of the Umbilical Cable in A Deep-Sea ROV System

This paper proposes a geometrically exact formulation for three-dimensional static and dynamic analyses of the umbilical cable in a deep-sea remotely operated vehicle (ROV) system. The presented formulation takes account of the geometric nonlinearities of large displacement, effects of axial load and bending stiffness for modeling of slack cables. The resulting nonlinear second-order governing equations are discretized spatially by the finite element method and solved temporally by the generalized- implicit time integration algorithm, which is adapted to the case of varying coefficient matrices. The ability to consider three-dimensional union action of ocean current and ship heave motion upon the umbilical cable is the key feature of this analysis. The presented formulation is firstly validated, and then three numerical examples for the umbilical cable in a deep-sea ROV system are demonstrated and discussed, including the steady configurations only under the action of depth-dependent ocean current, the dynamic responses in the case of the only ship heave motion, and in the case of the combined action of the ship heave motion and ocean current.     

A Geometrically Exact Formulation for Three-Dimensional Numerical Simulation of the Umbilical Cable in A Deep-Sea ROV System

This paper proposes a geometrically exact formulation for three-dimensional static and dynamic analyses of the umbilical cable in a deep-sea remotely operated vehicle(ROV) system. The presented formulation takes account of the geometric nonlinearities of large displacement, effects of axial load and bending stiffness for modeling of slack cables. The resulting nonlinear second-order governing equations are discretized spatially by the finite element method and solved temporally by the generalized-a implicit time integration algorithm, which is adapted to the case of varying coefficient matrices. The ability to consider three-dimensional union action of ocean current and ship heave motion upon the umbilical cable is the key feature of this analysis. The presented formulation is firstly validated, and then three numerical examples for the umbilical cable in a deep-sea ROV system are demonstrated and discussed, including the steady configurations only under the action of depth-dependent ocean current, the dynamic responses in the case of the only ship heave motion, and in the case of the combined action of the ship heave motion and ocean current.     

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.     

深海遥控潜水器多体系统非线性耦合动力特性模拟

建立带缆遥控潜水器(TROV)系统空间运动模型,探讨支持船-吊缆-中际站-脐带缆-潜水器多体之间的强非线性耦合运动机理。潜器的运动考虑为六自由度,缆索分段的三维动态方程中采用了"凝集参数"模型与平均切向量非线性流体动力载荷处理技术,通过计算非均匀缆索的动张力和瞬态构型,预报导致脐带缆保护层及其内部光电传输芯线结构破坏的巨大瞬间突变载荷,对避免谐振,延长缆索寿命和最大限度地扩大ROV系统安全操作的范围,确保潜水器安全入坞和回收,节约试验费,避免作业事故都具有重要意义。     

主动式声纳列阵拖曳系统姿态数值计算

主动式声纳列阵拖曳系统是用于探测潜艇的新型声纳系统，为了准确探测潜艇的位置，必须首先预报声纳列阵的瓷态，本文通过对其三维力学模型的分析，得到该系统的运动微分方程，其中缆索的力学方程是基于Ablow和Milinazzo的模型，而对于拖体则运用六自由度空间运动方程模拟，结合边界条件，用有限差分法求解，通过对拖船的不同运动状态如匀速，变速和回转的计算，证明本文的方法对于预报声纳列阵的姿态是有效的。     

The effect of appendages on the hydrodynamic characteristics of an underwater vehicle near the free surface

An underwater vehicle typically has various appendages such as sail, rudders and hydroplanes. These appendages affect the hull hydrodynamic characteristics, including the resistance components and the form of the generated wave due to the motion of the vehicle near the free surface. The effect of the appendages on the hydrodynamic characteristics of an underwater vehicle near the free surface is studied. Initially the DARPPA SUBOFF submarine without the appendages is selected and hydrodynamic characteristics, including the friction resistance, viscous pressure resistance, wave resistance and shape of the created wave on the free surface are calculated for Froude numbers in the range of 0.128–0.84 and non-dimensional submergence depths 1.3, 2.2, 3.3 & 4.4. Then, by adding the appendages and comparing these two conditions, the effect of appendages is obtained. The results of computations indicate that the appendages cause a mean increase of about 16% in the total resistance. This increment is due to viscosity of fluid and also the interaction of the main hull with the appendages. There are no significant changes in the wave pattern and wave making resistance due to the presence of appendages.     

海洋缆体系统的统一凝集参数时域分析法

提出了海洋缆一体系统的三维动态性能时域分析法，并给出了计算机程序。采用凝集参数法模拟了缆一体结构系统，缆为圆形截面，可伸长，不考虑弯曲刚度，采用了四阶龙格一库塔法积分系统运动方程，计算了二个实例以验证程序的可靠性，程序可用于系泊，拖曳，潜器脐带缆等具有组合成分的海洋缆体系统的初步设计。     

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.     

Redundancy resolution for underwater mobile manipulators

A new fault-tolerant redundancy resolution scheme is presented that allows a single six degree of freedom (DOF) command to be distributed over a small remotely operated underwater vehicle–manipulator (ROVM) system. ROVM systems are composed of a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) and serial manipulator. The combined system is often kinematically redundant for the six-DOF end-effector command, and such a ROVM system admits an infinite number of joint-space solutions for a commanded end-effector state. In the current work, the primary objective is to follow the desired end-effector velocities commanded by a human pilot. The primary objective is realized using the right Moore–Penrose pseudoinverse solution that minimizes the two-norm of the collective joint velocities. Secondary objectives considered are: avoiding manipulator joint limits, avoiding singularities and high joint velocities, keeping the end-effector in sight of the on-board camera, minimizing the ROV motion, and minimizing the drag-forces on the ROV. Each criterion is defined within the framework of the gradient projection method (GPM). The hierarchy for the secondary tasks is established by a low-level artificial pilot that determines a weighting factor for each criterion based on if–then-type fuzzy rules that reflect an expert human pilot's knowledge. The resulting weight schedule yields a self-motion (null-space motion) that emulates how a skilled operator would utilize the redundancy of the ROVM to achieve the secondary objectives. In addition, the proposed method has a fault-tolerant property that enforces joint-velocity limits and also redistributes the end-effector velocity command in the case of faulty joints. To demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed scheme, a numerical simulation case study is performed. The results illustrate that complex spatial end-effector manoeuvres that are otherwise not possible with a stationary ROV can be accomplished in real-time via the coordination of the ROV and the manipulator. The on-line nature of the proposed scheme makes it suitable for remote systems where the desired end-effector state is not known a priori.     

Evaluation of the effects of the communication cable on the dynamics of an underwater flight vehicle

This paper presents a numerical scheme to evaluate the effects of the communication cable attached to an underwater flight vehicle. Both simulation and model validation results show that the numerical scheme is effective and provides a means for developing a feed-forward controller to compensate for the cable effects when developing an autopilot for the tethered vehicle. Moreover, the numerical scheme can also be applied to predict the effects of the ROVs umbilical during its deployment.     

海洋测量水下拖曳设备的位置计算方法研究

针对海洋测量水下拖曳设备位置确定问题,综合考虑拖缆受力、海流影响以及水下拖体的运动性质,建立了水下拖曳设备的位置计算模型,并仿真计算分析了测量船在不同航行状态下拖曳设备位置确定的规律,探讨了不同海流效应对拖曳设备位置确定的影响。仿真计算结果表明,在海洋动态环境作用下,拖缆各方向的偏移明显呈曲线形状,非简单几何运算所确定。测船各方向的运动均可对水下拖体的位置在相应方向产生一定影响,而水下拖体位置的变化量小于测船拖点位置的变化量。海流对水下拖曳设备定位可造成数米的偏差,需进行相应改正。建议可考虑采取船载式ADCP实时测流辅助水下拖曳设备定位的工作模式。     

Hydrodynamic and dynamic analysis to determine the directional stability of an underwater vehicle near a free surface

A theoretical methodology to determine the open-loop directional stability of a near-surface underwater vehicle is presented. It involves a solution of coupled sway and yaw equations of motion in a manner similar to that carried out for surface ships. The stability derivatives are obtained numerically through simulation of motions corresponding to planar motion mechanism (PMM) model tests. For the numerical simulation, a boundary-integral method based on the mixed Lagrangian-Eulerian formulation is developed. The free-surface effect on the vehicle stability is determined by comparing the results with that obtained for vehicle motion in infinite fluid. The methodology was used to determine the stability of the Florida Atlantic University’s Ocean EXplorer (OEX) AUV. The presence of the free surface, through radiation damping, is found to suppress unsteady oscillations and thereby enhance the directional stability of the vehicle. With effects of free surface, forward speed, location and geometry of rudders, location of the center of gravity etc. all being significant factors affecting stability, a general conclusion cannot be drawn on their combined effect on the vehicle stability. The present computational methodology is therefore a useful tool to determine an underwater vehicle’s stability for a given configuration and thus the viability of an intended mission a priori.     

Numerical investigation of the hydrodynamic interaction between two underwater bodies in relative motion

The hydrodynamic interaction between an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) manoeuvring in close proximity to a larger underwater vehicle can cause rapid changes in the motion of the AUV. This interaction can lead to mission failure and possible vehicle collision. Being self-piloted and comparatively small, an AUV is more susceptible to these interaction effects than the larger body. In an aim to predict the manoeuvring performance of an AUV under the effects of the interaction, the Australian Maritime College (AMC) has conducted a series of computer simulations and captive model experiments. A numerical model was developed to simulate pure sway motion of an AUV at different lateral and longitudinal positions relative to a larger underwater vehicle using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFDs). The variables investigated include the surge force, sway force and the yaw moment coefficients acting on the AUV due to interaction effects, which were in turn validated against experimental results. A simplified method is presented to obtain the hydrodynamic coefficients of an AUV when operating close to a larger underwater body by transforming the single body hydrodynamic coefficients of the AUV using the steady-state interaction forces. This method is considerably less time consuming than traditional methods. Furthermore, the inverse of this method (i.e. to obtain the steady state interaction force) is also presented to obtain the steady-state interaction force at multiple lateral separations efficiently. Both the CFD model and the simplified methods have been validated against the experimental data and are capable of providing adequate interaction predictions. Such methods are critical for accurate prediction of vehicle performance under varying conditions present in real life.     

Hydrodynamic characteristic of synthetic jet steered underwater vehicle

In this paper, the hydrodynamic characteristic of a synthetic jet steered underwater vehicle is studied. The steering motion studied is the lateral motion and the yaw motion. The lateral motion is induced through the in-phase work of this two actuators and the yaw motion is realized through the out-of-phase work. The vehicle studied is REMUS AUV with synthetic jet actuator mounted inside. The hydrodynamic characteristic of the vehicle under different cruising speed is studied. The driving parameters of the SJ actuator keep invariant in different cases. When the two actuators work in phase, the average steering force is smaller than the thrust of the isolated actuator and keeps nearly invariant under different cruising speed. When the two actuators work out of phase, the average steering moment also keeps invariant with cruising speed. The mathematical model of the additional drag of the vehicle, the thrust of the actuator, the steering force as well as the steering moment is given. The velocity distribution is also given to assistant the analysis in this paper. From the analysis given it can be known the steering method based on SJ is realized through position control other than velocity control.     

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.      

遥控水下机器人脐带缆收放绞车设计及牵引力分析

脐带缆收放技术是有缆遥控水下机器人的一项关键技术,该技术直接影响水下机器人载体的收放及作业过程中脐带缆的安全。针对目前水下机器人收放系统中脐带缆收放技术的特点,给出了一种具有自动排缆、低张力缠绕、能够提供大牵引力和安全制动功能的紧凑新式脐带缆绞车方案,并对牵引绞车与储藏绞车之间脐带缆张力与牵引绞车的牵引力进行了理论分析,给出了二者之间的关系函数。     

A finite element cable model and its applications based on the cubic spline curve

For accurate prediction of the deformation of cable in the towed system, a new finite element model is presented that provides a representation of both the bending and torsional effects. In this paper, the cubic spline interpolation function is applied as the trial solution. By using a weighted residual approach, the discretized motion equations for the new finite element model are developed. The model is calculated with the computation program complier by Matlab. Several numerical examples are presented to illustrate the numerical schemes. The results of numerical simulation are stable and valid, and consistent with the mechanical properties of the cable. The model can be applied to kinematics analysis and the design of ocean cable, such as mooring lines, towing, and ROV umbilical cables.