Study on hydrodynamic performance of Heavier-than-water AUV with overlapping grid method

Abstract

Hydrodynamic coefficients strongly affect the dynamic performance of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). A novel kind of underwater vehicle (Heavier-than-water AUV) with higher density than water is presented, which is different from conventional ones. RANS method and overlapping grids are used to simulate the flow field around the vehicle. Lifts, drags and moments of different attack and drift angles in steady state are calculated. The hydrodynamic performances and how the forces change with the attitude are analyzed according to the flow field structure. The steady-state results using overlapping grid method are compared with those of software FLUENT and wind tunnel tests. The calculation results show that the overlapping grid method can well simulate the viscous flow field around the underwater vehicle. Overlapping grid skills have also been used to figure out the planar-motion-mechanism (PMM) problem of Heavier-than-water AUV and forecast its hydrodynamic performance, verifying its effectiveness in dealing with the dynamic problems, which would be quite helpful for design and control of Heavier-than-water AUV and other underwater vehicles.