• 한국해양공학회지
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• 제33권3호
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• pp.300-311
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• 2019

An ROV trencher is a type of heavy-duty work class ROV equipped with high-pressure water jet tools for cutting into the sea floor and burying cables. This kind of trencher is mostly used for PLIB operations. This paper introduces the development of this kind of ROV trencher, which has a 698 kW power system, with a 250 kW hydraulic system and two 224 kW water jet systems. The project was launched in January 2014. After four years of design, manufacturing, and system integration, we carried out two sea trials near the Yeongilman port (about 20-30 m in depth) in Pohang to evaluate the system performance in November 2017 and August 2018. Through tests, we found that most of specifications were satisfied, including a maximum bury depth of 3 m, maximum bury speed of 2 km/h, and maximum forward speed of 1.54 m/s.

• 한국해양공학회지
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• 제29권6호
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• pp.470-474
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• 2015

The demand for subsea cables and pipelines that transfer marine energy resources onshore has recently increased. Laying these underground after trenching is one engineering method to stabilize exposed subsea cables and pipelines. This experimental study found the optimum conditions for operating two types of waterjet arms mounted on an ROV trencher. A waterjet arm for trenching the seabed was scaled down at a ratio of 1:6, and a comparative analysis was conducted using diverse parameters. The results of this research provide a practical fundamental database to assist in making decisions about the ROV trencher performance in advance.

• 한국해양공학회지
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• 제34권5호
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• pp.361-370
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• 2020

We developed a heavy-duty work class ROV trencher named URI-T (Underwater robot it's trencher) that can conduct burial and maintenance tasks for underwater cables and small diameter pipelines. It requires various supporting systems, including a dynamic positioning (DP) vessel, launch and recovery system (LARS), A-frame, and winch in order to perform burial tasks because of its dimensions (6.5 m × 5.0 m × 4.5 m, 20 t) and the tough working environment. However, operating a DP vessel has disadvantages as it is expensive to rent and operate and it is difficult to adjust the working schedule for some domestic coast construction cases. In this paper, we propose a method using a barge instead of a DP vessel to avoid the above disadvantages. Although burying the cable and pipeline using a barge has lower working efficiency than a DP vessel, it can save construction expenses and does not require a large crew. The proposed method was applied over two months at the construction of the water supply in Yokji-do, and the results were verified.

• 한국항해항만학회지
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• 제39권6호
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• pp.539-544
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• 2015

해양구조물의 가동해역이 대수심으로 이동함에 따라 해저파이프라인 및 해저케이블은 육지보다 열악한 시공 환경에 놓이게 된다. 이때 해저지반상태와 해상조건 등은 작업효율에 영향을 미치게 되며 단시간에 효율적인 시공이 필요하다. 본 논문은 해저지반 굴삭을 위해 ROV(Remotely Operated Vehicle) 트렌쳐에 장착되는 워터젯 굴삭기의 시공성능 추정에 관한 연구이다. 먼저 전산유체해석을 통해 노즐간의 거리와 노즐 분사각도를 고려하여 굴삭효율을 극대화할 수 있는 최적 노즐수량을 선정하였고, 모형실험을 수행하여 굴삭기의 시공성능을 유추할 수 있는 최대 굴삭심도와 최대 굴삭속도를 파악하였다. 이를 토대로 실제 운용중인 워터젯 굴삭장비와 비교분석하여 워터젯 장비의 효율성을 확인하였다.