Design and flight performance of hybrid underwater glider with controllable wings

Yanhui Wang,Zhijin Yang,Yiteng Zhang,Mingming Zhang,Zhiliang Wu

doi:10.1177/1729881417703566

Yanhui Wang, Zhijin Yang + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1177/1729881417703566

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Abstract

Hybrid underwater glider combines motion modes of traditional autonomous underwater glider and those of autonomous underwater vehicles. Different motion modes need different flight performance, including flight efficiency, static stability, and maneuverability. Conventional hybrid underwater glider with fixed wings can’t achieve optimal flight performance in one flight mission demanding various motion modes. In this article, controllable wings for hybrid underwater glider Petrel II are designed. Angle of attack, sweep angle, and aspect ratio of controllable wings can be changed to adapt to different motion modes. Kinematics and dynamics models of Petrel II are established based on multibody theory. Motion simulations of Petrel II with different wing configurations are conducted in three motion modes, including glide motion, spiral motion, and horizontal turning motion. The simulation results show the impact of wing parameters on flight performance. Field trials demonstrate that the controllable wings can improve the flight performance.

Highlights

Autonomous underwater glider (AUG) is an economic and promising marine observation platform in terms of small size, long duration, and a harvest of oceanographic data
Where Cxw is coefficient of longitudinal force, Cyw is coefficient of vertical force, Czw is coefficient of lateral force, Mxw is coefficient of roll moment, Myw is coefficient of yaw moment, Mzw is coefficient of pitch moment, λ is aspect ratio, is sweep angle, CDO is 2-dimension profile coefficient of minimum drag, CDC is coefficient of lateral drag, and w is whole attack angle of wings, which can be expressed as w 1⁄4 þ d where is the angle of attack (AOA) of the glider and d is the flip angle of the wings
Controllable wings are designed based on linkage synthesis to change AOA, sweep angle, and aspect ratio

Summary

Introduction

Autonomous underwater glider (AUG) is an economic and promising marine observation platform in terms of small size, long duration, and a harvest of oceanographic data. When output slider A and A0 match, the crank slider mechanism fixed with wing B will rotate to change sweep angle. The glider’s attitude relative to the inertial coordinate can be described by Euler angle ð; ; yÞ, which represents roll about axis Bx, yaw about axis By, and pitch about axis Bz. Petrel II has 16 DoFs. The glider body has six DoFs ð; ; y; x; y; zÞ.

Results

Conclusion