Experimental study on the maneuvering derivatives of a half-scale SUBOFF model in the vertical plane

Abstract

The maneuverability of a submersible in the vertical plane is investigated. For this purpose, extensive experiments are performed on a half-scale SUBOFF model in the circulating water channel (CWC) with the planar motion mechanism (PMM). Oblique towing tests containing high attack angles, pure heave tests and pure pitch tests are involved. The validity of the experiments is identified by the accordance of the present hydrodynamic coefficients and the ones of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) . In order to fit the measured data for cases with high attack angles, this paper develops the expression of dimensionless pitch moment M′ by the piecewise function. Besides, the blockage effects are corrected by Tamura equation. In addition, the uncertainty analysis (UA) is conducted referring to the recommended procedure 7.5-02-06-04 by 27th ITTC (2014b). The results show that, the developed equation turns out to be superior to the standard one. And the total uncertainties of the hydrodynamics are less than 2%, which reveals the accuracy and credibility of the experimental measurement.