• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.297-315
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• 2011

New applications of streamlined Autonomous Underwater Vehicles require an AUV capable of completing missions with both high-speed straight-line runs and slow maneuvers or station keeping tasks. At low, or zero, forward speeds, the AUV's control surfaces become ineffective. To improve an AUV's low speed maneuverability, while maintaining a low drag profile, through-body tunnel thrusters have become a popular addition to modern AUV systems. The effect of forward vehicle motion and sideslip on these types of thrusters is not well understood. In order to characterize these effects and to adapt existing tunnel thruster models to include them, an experimental system was constructed. This system includes a transverse tunnel thruster mounted in a streamlined AUV. A 6-axis load cell mounted internally was used to measure the thrust directly. The AUV was mounted in Memorial University of Newfoundland's tow tank, and several tests were run to characterize the effect of vehicle motion on the transient and steady state thruster performance. Finally, a thruster model was modified to include these effects.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.10-17
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• 2010

Conventionally, because it is difficult to control a ship in shallow water and because attempting to do so creates unwanted environmental effects, maneuvering ships in the harbor area for berthing is usually done with the assistance of tugboats. In this paper, we propose a new method for berthing ships automatically by using bow and stern thrusters. Specifically, a steering motion model of a ship is considered, and parameters in the equation are evaluated by the system identification technique. An optimal controller based on observations was designed from the linearization of the non-linear ship motion in the horizontal plane. It is used to reduce the uncertainty about the ship's dynamics and reduce measurement requirements. The performance of the controller was also analyzed for its robustness relative to avoiding disturbing the environment due to winds, currents, and wave-drift forces. Experiments were conducted to estimate the potential for identifying result and the design of the controller. Specifically, in this paper, the system modeling and tracking control approach are discussed based on a two-degree-of-freedom (2DOF) servo-system design.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.757-764
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• 2019

Depressurization occurs around underwater objects moving at high speeds. This causes cavitation nuclei to expand, resulting in cavitation. Cavitation is accompanied by an increase in noise and vibration at the site, particularly in the case of thrusters, and this has a detrimental ef ect on propulsion performance. Therefore, predicting cavitation is necessary. In this study, an analytical method for cavitation noise is developed and applied to an elliptic wing. First, computational fluid dynamics are performed to obtain information about the flow fields around the wing. Then, through the cavitation nuclei density function, number of cavitation nuclei is calculated using the initial radius of the nuclei and nuclei are randomly placed in the upstream with large pressure drop around the wing tip. Bubble dynamics are then applied to each nucleus using a Lagrangian approach for noise analysis and to determine cavitation behavior. Cavitation noise is identified as having the characteristics of broadband noise. Verification of analytical method is performed by comparing experimental results derived from the large cavitation tunnel at the Korea Research Institute of Ships & Ocean Engineering.