Numerical Simulation Study on the Recovery Process of Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

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.

Author(s):  
Jiaming Wu ◽  
Chengwei Zhang ◽  
Zhijian Ye ◽  
Ying Xu ◽  
Weiwen Feng ◽  
...  

A practical approach to simulate hydrodynamic performance of ducted propellers attached in an underwater vehicle under the influence of flow field of the vehicle is proposed, hydrodynamic characteristics of the propeller when the vehicle in a dynamic yawing motion is studied numerically. In the research, 3D geometric models of the duct, propeller and underwater vehicle are first constructed according to their geometrical features. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technique based on the finite volume method and multi-sliding mesh technique are applied to solve the Navier-Stokes equations which govern the fluid motions around the duct, propeller and underwater vehicle when the vehicle are in a yawing motion. These equations are solved numerically with the CFD code FLUENT. With the proposed numerical simulation approaches, the hydrodynamic phenomenon of thrusts generated from the ducted propellers in the vehicle system under the flow field influence of the vehicle’s yawing motion are analyzed. Results of our numerical simulation indicate that the influence of flow field caused by the underwater vehicle on the thrusts of the ducted propellers is not negligible; when studying the thrust characteristics of a ducted propeller in an underwater vehicle system, the thrust nature of the propeller can only be evaluated objectively on the condition that the vehicle and the ducted propeller are combined together into an integrated system, and the numerical simulation are conducted in such an integrated system.


2011 ◽  
Vol 308-310 ◽  
pp. 189-192
Author(s):  
Long Xing Chen ◽  
Wen Qi Ma ◽  
He Chun Yu ◽  
Hai Yan Liu ◽  
Hong Wang Du

The aerostatic circular thrust bearing was taken as a study subject. The numerical simulation method was used to calculate the flow passage. Meanwhile, the single-point testing method was used to test the pressure distribution. The simulation and experiment measurement results were compared and analyzed. The results show that: The single-point testing method is effective to capture the change of flow characteristics. The overall results of simulation and testing coincide with each other well. In the range of cone cavity, the flow pattern for the gas is turbulent flow, and the flow field should be divided into different zones for simulation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 172988141880173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ziye Zhou ◽  
Yanqing Jiang ◽  
Ye Li ◽  
Cao Jian ◽  
Yeyi Sun

This article presents a navigation method for an autonomous underwater vehicle being recovered by a human-occupied vehicle. The autonomous underwater vehicle is considered to carry underwater navigation sensors such as ultra-short baseline, Doppler velocity log, and inertial navigation system. Using these sensors’ information, a navigation module combining the ultra-short baseline positioning and inertial positioning is established. In this study, there is assumed to be no communication between the autonomous underwater vehicle and human-occupied vehicle; thus, to obtain the autonomous underwater vehicle position in the inertial coordinate, a conjecture method to obtain the human-occupied vehicle coordinates is proposed. To reduce the error accumulation of autonomous underwater vehicle navigation, a method called one-step dead reckoning positioning is proposed, and the one-step dead reckoning positioning is treated as a correction to combine with ultra-short baseline positioning by a data fusion algorithm. One-step dead reckoning positioning is a positioning method based on the previous time-step coordinates of the autonomous underwater vehicle.


2013 ◽  
Vol 732-733 ◽  
pp. 432-435 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zong Rui Hao ◽  
Juan Xu ◽  
Hai Yan Bie ◽  
Zhong Hai Zhou

Flow characteristics of stirred tanks with different structures were calculated by taking RNG k-ε model as the turbulent flow model. The results showed that at the same rotational speed, a large number of axial and radial vortexes were formed in the stirred tank with the baffle. The velocity in the blade area was high, and it decreased rapidly with the increasing distance to the blade. The double peak area of the radial velocity was formed in the stirred tank with baffle, and the high and low speed cycles were obtained in the cross-section. The baffle increased not only the axial circulation of the liquid in the tank but also the radial circulation, which help to mix the liquid.


Author(s):  
Jiaming Wu ◽  
Xuefeng Jin

A new concept of control technique to perform operation of trajectory maneuvering to a controllable underwater towed vehicle moving in a designated path with a required attitude is presented. A trajectory and attitude control technique for the towed vehicle is proposed in order to accomplish the vehicle’s trajectory and attitude manipulations. This technique is based on a fuzzy algorithm. The towed vehicle in the research consists of a cylindrical main body equipped with several active horizontal and vertical control surfaces. Numerical simulation on the hydrodynamic and control behavior of the towed vehicle under this control manipulation is conducted based on a fully 3-D hydrodynamic model of an underwater towed vehicle. In the model the governing equation of the towed cable is based on the Ablow and Schechter method. The six-degrees-of-freedom equations of motion for an underwater vehicle simulation proposed by Gertler and Hagen are adopted to estimate the hydrodynamic performance of the towed vehicle. In numerical simulation the deflections of vehicle’s control surfaces are governed by the proposed fuzzy controller to manipulate the vehicle traveling along a 3-D stipulated trajectory configuration and required attitude. The values of the deflections are taken as input parameters for the hydrodynamic model at every time step. The performance of the towed vehicle under different designated trajectory and attitude control manipulations can then be investigated with the hydrodynamic model.


Author(s):  
Xiangyuan Zhu ◽  
Fen Lai ◽  
Liping Zhu ◽  
Guojun Li

To enhance the efficiency and stable operation, the unsteady pressure fluctuations in a centrifugal pump and the radial force on an impeller are investigated for three different vaned diffuser outlet diameters. The steady-state hydrodynamic performance of the centrifugal pump with three different vaned diffuser outlet diameters was experimentally measured. Numerical simulations were used to obtain the hydrodynamic performance of the experimental centrifugal pump based on the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) and turbulence models. The numerical results of the hydrodynamic performance were in agreement with the experimental data. The accuracy of the utilized numerical approach was demonstrated. The unsteady flow characteristics of the centrifugal pump were numerically studied. With increasing diffuser vane outlet diameter, the flow field within the volute became more non-uniform, and the pressure fluctuation was more drastic. Moreover, because of the influence of the non-uniform flow field and the pressure fluctuation, the radial force on the impeller increased.


2012 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 769-774 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongxiang Dong ◽  
Xiangjie Duan ◽  
Shunshan Feng ◽  
Zhiyu Shao

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Houjun Gong ◽  
Mengqi Wu

Marine reactors are subjected to additional motions due to ocean conditions. These additional motions will cause large fluctuation of flow rate and change the coolant flow field, making the system unstable. Therefore, in order to understand the effect of oscillating motion on the flow characteristics, a numerical simulation of fluid flow is carried out based on a full-scale three-dimensional oscillating marine reactor. In this study, the resistance coefficients of the lattice, rod buddle and steam generator are fitted, and the distribution of flow rate, velocity as well as pressure in different regions is investigated through the standard model. After additional oscillation is introduced, the flow field in an oscillating reactor is presented and the effect of oscillating angle and elevation on the flow rate is investigated. Results show that the oscillating motion can greatly change the flow field in the reactor; most of the coolant circulates in the downcommer and lower head with only a small amount of coolant entering the core; the flow fluctuation period is consistent with the oscillating period, and the flow variation patterns under different oscillating conditions are basically the same; since the flow amplitude is related to oscillating speed, the amplitude of flow rate rises when decreasing the maximum oscillating angle; the oscillating elevation has little effect on the flow rate.


2009 ◽  
Vol 23 (03) ◽  
pp. 325-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
SHULING TIAN ◽  
YIZHAO WU ◽  
JIAN XIA

A parallel Navier-Stokes solver based on dynamic overset unstructured grids method is presented to simulate the unsteady turbulent flow field around helicopter in forward flight. The grid method has the advantages of unstructured grid and Chimera grid and is suitable to deal with multiple bodies in relatively moving. Unsteady Navier-Stokes equations are solved on overset unstructured grids by an explicit dual time-stepping, finite volume method. Preconditioning method applied to inner iteration of the dual-time stepping is used to speed up the convergence of numerical simulation. The Spalart-Allmaras one-equation turbulence model is used to evaluate the turbulent viscosity. Parallel computation is based on the dynamic domain decomposition method in overset unstructured grids system at each physical time step. A generic helicopter Robin with a four-blade rotor in forward flight is considered to validate the method presented in this paper. Numerical simulation results show that the parallel dynamic overset unstructured grids method is very efficient for the simulation of helicopter flow field and the results are reliable.


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.


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