Analysis Of Steady Motion And Experiment Study On An Underwater Glider

Underwater glider is a new kind underwater vehicle. Compared with traditionalunderwater vehicles such as AUV and ROV, the underwater glider produce lower noisewhile gliding without any propulsion devices. It has the advantage of low energy cost andlong-range distances. It is an autonomous vehicle with lower price. In the nearest future,underwater glider will make beneficial interest in relative fields such asresource exploration, environment monitoring and military field.All discussions in this article are based on the Seaglider developed by the Universityof Washington. Both experimental and simulation methods are used to analyze the steadymotion characteristics. First, we calculate the hydrodynamic coefficients in the verticalplane based on CFD methods, including coefficients of lift, drag and moment, and the addmass in three direction based on panel methods. Then the same CFD methods are used tostudy different hydrodynamic performance between Seaglider and another underwaterglider that have an analogy to Slocum.Aimed to pursuit the longest range and the bestcapability to cross current, there are two typical gliding states which is the lowest energyconsumption and the maximum horizontal speed. Then this paper predicts the variousparameters calculated by the equations of motion in the vertical plane.In the last chapter, a full scale model of the Seaglider has been manufactured toverify the gliding status. Through adjusting the position and weight of the ballast in thegroove, the prototype glider can achieve the estimated status. Experimental results showthat the gliding trajectory and attitude are identical with simulation results.