Motion model of fish-like underwater vehicle and its effect on hydrodynamic performance

Author(s):  
Gang Xuel ◽  
Yanjun Liu ◽  
Zhi Chen ◽  
Shizhen Li
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weigang Huang ◽  
Donglei Zhang ◽  
Jiawei Yu ◽  
Tao He ◽  
Xianzhou Wang

Abstract AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) recovery is considerably influenced by the nearby flow field and simulations of AUV in different motion paths in the wake of a submarine with a propeller are presented in this paper. A commercial CFD solver STAR CCM+ has been used to research the motion and flow characteristics of AUV, which using the advanced computational continuum mechanics algorithms. The DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) SUBOFF Submarine (L1 = 4.356m) propelled with INSEAN (Italian Ship Model Basin) E1619 propeller is used in this study, and the self-propulsion characteristics of the propeller at an incoming flow velocity of 2.75m/s are obtained through numerical simulation and results are compared with the available experimental data to prove the accuracy of the chosen investigation methodology. A grid/time-step convergence test is performed for verification study. AUV (L2 = 0.4356m) is a smaller-scale SUBOFF without a sail, which approaches the submarine in different motion paths in the submarine wake at a relative speed combined with the dynamic overlapping grid technology. The hydrodynamic performance of the AUV when approaching the submarine and the velocity distribution of the surrounding flow field are analyzed, which provides a useful reference for underwater recovery of the AUV.


2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (s1) ◽  
pp. 106-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongtao Gao ◽  
Biao Li

Abstract Floating-type wave energy converter has the advantages of high wave energy conversion efficiency, strong shock resistance ability in rough sea and stable output power. So it is regarded as a promising energy utilization facility. The research on hydrodynamic performance of wave capture buoys is the precondition and key to the wave energy device design and optimization. A simplified motion model of the buoys in the waves is established. Based on linear wave theory, the equations of motion of buoys are derived according to Newton’s second law. The factors of wave and buoys structural parameters on wave energy absorption efficiency are discussed in the China’s Bohai Sea with short wave period and small wave height. The results show that the main factor which affects the dynamic responses of wave capture buoys is the proximity of the natural frequency of buoys to the wave period. And the incoming wave power takes a backseat role to it at constant wave height. The buoys structural parameters such as length, radius and immersed depth, influence the wave energy absorption efficiency, which play significant factors in device design. The effectiveness of this model is validated by the sea tests with small-sized wave energy devices. The establishment methods of motion model and analysis results are expected to be helpful for designing and manufacturing of floating-type wave energy converter.


Author(s):  
Yumin Su ◽  
Zhaoli Wang

A new kind of dish-shaped underwater vehicle was designed. The maneuverability of the dish-shaped underwater vehicle (UV) is predicted in this paper. Hydrodynamic coefficients of the vehicle were calculated in numerically. The numerical method applied is one of the tools available in the commercial computational fluid dynamics software FLUENT. The dynamic mesh system and post-processing system are adopted in the numerical method. By simulating numerically straight motion, inclined motion and planar motion mechanism (PMM) experiment, the hydrodynamic performance in different states were obtained. Based on the least square method, the hydrodynamic coefficients of maneuverability were obtained. The calculated results indicate that the numerical method is suitable.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thai Nguyen ◽  
Horak ◽  
Thu Tran ◽  
The Nguyen ◽  
Quang Hoang

Author(s):  
Junshi Wang ◽  
Huy Tran ◽  
Martha Christino ◽  
Carl White ◽  
Joseph Zhu ◽  
...  

Abstract A combined experimental and numerical approach is employed to study the hydrodynamic performance and characterize the flow features of thunniform swimming by using a tuna-inspired underwater vehicle in forward swimming. The three-dimensional, time-dependent kinematics of the body-fin system of the underwater vehicle is obtained via a stereo-videographic technique. A high-fidelity computational model is then directly reconstructed based on the experimental data. A sharp-interface immersed-boundary-method (IBM) based incompressible flow solver is employed to compute the flow. The primary objective of the computational effort is to quantify the thrust performance of the model. The body kinematics and hydrodynamic performances are quantified and the dynamics of the vortex wake are analyzed. Results have shown significant leading-edge vortex at the caudal fin and unique vortex ring structures in the wake. The results from this work help to bring insight into understanding the thrust producing mechanism of thunniform swimming and to provide potential suggestions in improving the hydrodynamic performance of swimming underwater vehicles.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 658
Author(s):  
Jian Li ◽  
Peng Wang ◽  
Xiaoyi An ◽  
Da Lyu ◽  
Ruixuan He ◽  
...  

Flapping foils are studied to achieve an efficient propeller. The performance of the flapping foil is influenced by many factors such as oncoming vortices, heaving amplitude, and geometrical parameters. In this paper, investigations are performed on flapping foils to assess its performance in the wake of a D-section cylinder located half a diameter in front of the foil. The effects of heaving amplitude and foil thickness are examined. The results indicate that oncoming vortices facilitate the flapping motion. Although the thrust increases with the increasing heaving amplitude, the propelling efficiency decreases with it. Moreover, increasing thickness results in higher efficiency. The highest propelling efficiency is achieved when the heaving amplitude equals ten percent of the chord length with a symmetric foil type of NACA0050 foil. When the heaving amplitude is small, the influence of the thickness tends to be more remarkable. The propelling efficiency exceeds 100% and the heaving amplitude is 10% of the chord length when the commonly used equation is adopted. This result demonstrates that the flapping motion extracts some energy from the oncoming vortices. Based on the numerical results, a new parameter, the energy transforming ratio (RET), is applied to explicate the energy transforming procedure. The RET represents that the flapping foil is driven by the engine or both the engines and the oncoming vortices with the range of RET being (0, Infini) and (−1, 0), respectively. With what has been discussed in this paper, the oncoming wake of the D-section cylinder benefits the flapping motion which indicates that the macro underwater vehicle performs better following a bluff body.


Author(s):  
Rijie Li ◽  
Jiajun Chen ◽  
Yushen Huang ◽  
Liwei Liu ◽  
Xianzhou Wang

The dolphins’ cruising, generally, with an extremely high thrust efficiency and low drag, which attracted many researchers’ wide attention. It is hoped that we can improve the hydrodynamic performance of underwater vehicle by studying the thrust characteristics of dolphin’s kick and the relationship between the formation of vortex and the thrust generation. However, previous work is mostly focused on investigation of hydrodynamic performance of dolphin fluke motion with a rigid tail which means that the locomotion of caudal fin is defined only by the oscillating motion, without the chordwise deformation. In this paper, the dolphin’s fluke motion is realized by a flexible caudal fin which is defined by a combination of oscillating motion and chordwise deformation. The simulation of the dolphin fluke motion is achieved by STRA-CCM, and dynamic moving mesh is implemented for different stroke functions. This paper primarily analyzed the thrust characteristics and the formation of vortex of dolphin fluke motion, then compared with the available data from previous work with rigid tail. It can be found that the structure of the vortex generated by the dolphin fluke motion with flexible caudal fin is different from a rigid one. Finally, by analyzing the instantaneous flow condition behind the dolphin caudal fin, it can get the reason why the thrust generated by the flexible caudal fin is larger than rigid one.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 940
Author(s):  
Jiaming Wu ◽  
Yizhe Dou ◽  
Haiyan Lv ◽  
Chenghua Ma ◽  
Le Zhong ◽  
...  

A numerical technique to simulate the hydrodynamic behavior of ducted propellers attached to an underwater vehicle traveling under the mutually interacting flow fields of the vehicle and the propellers is proposed; the hydrodynamic performance of the propellers and the hydrodynamic loading on the main body of the vehicle when it is in different kinds of motion is investigated numerically. In the research, 3D geometric models of the duct, propeller, and main body of the vehicle are first constructed according to their geometrical features. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technique based on the hybrid algorithm of dynamic mesh-nested sliding mesh is applied to solve the Navier–Stokes equations that govern the fluid motion around the duct, propeller, and main body of the vehicle when it is in motion. These equations are solved numerically with the CFD code Fluent. With the proposed numerical simulation technique, the hydrodynamic characteristics of the thrusts generated by the ducted propellers and the loading on the main body in the vehicle system under the mutually interacting flow fields are observed. The results of our numerical simulation indicate that the hybrid algorithm of dynamic mesh-nested sliding mesh can simulate multiple degrees of freedom of motion in underwater vehicle systems. In different motion states, the main body exerts a significant influence on the investigated flow fields; during the vehicle motions, negative wakes are formed on both sides of the main body, which lead to a decrease in the thrusts generated by the propellers on both sides. The thrust of the middle propeller is greater than that of the normal single one because of the obstructing effect in the tunnel caused by the main body.


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