Data-driven optimization design of a novel pressure hull for AUV

Abstract

The design of the pressure hull, one of the most important components, has great significance for improving the performance of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). In this paper, a novel ring-stiffened arched cylindrical (RAC) hull is presented based on the traditional ring-stiffened cylindrical hull, which has the advantages of smooth outline, large compressibility, and small buoyancy factor. Then, a data-driven approach for efficiently designing the pressure hull with an irregular structure is proposed based on the finite element simulation, and its framework is introduced in detail. With the data-driven approach, the optimization design of the RAC structure for AUV is performed, which considers the effect of temperature variation on the deformation. The optimization results indicate that the mass of the pressure hull can be reduced by 10.3% by replacing the traditional ring-stiffened cylindrical hull with the RAC hull proposed in this paper. Finally, some pressure tests are carried out to verify the proposed approach, which is also appropriate for designing irregular structures in other engineering fields.