Optimization Design of Pressure Hull for Long-Range Underwater Glider Based on Energy Consumption Constraints

Abstract

Underwater gliders are a class of ocean observation equipment driven by buoyancy, and their energy consumption source is mainly generated by the active regulation of buoyancy. The periodic elastic deformation of the pressure hull during the upward and downward movement of the underwater glider can have a large impact on its driving buoyancy. This paper relates the optimization problem of the pressure hull with the energy consumption of underwater glider, and the energy improvement factor is taken as the optimization objective. Based on the mechanical theory, the theoretical optimization model and constraint model are derived. A hybrid genetic simulated annealing algorithm (HGSAA) is adopted to optimize the pressure hull of the underwater glider developed by Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST). Additionally, the effectiveness of the optimized mathematical model and optimization results were verified by the tests. The sea trial results show that after the pressure hull optimization, the energy consumption of the buoyancy regulation unit decreased by 21.9%, and the total energy carried increased by 12.4%.