EFFECT OF HYDROPLANE PROFILE ON HYDRODYNAMIC COEFFICIENTS OF AN AUTONOMOUS UNDERWATER VEHICLE

Sa？etak AUVs are the most suitable tool for conduction survey concerning with global environmental problems. AUVs maneuverability should be carefully checked so as to improve energy efficiency of the vehicle and avoid unexpected motion. Oblique towing test (OTT) is simulated virtually in a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) environment to obtain hydrodynamic damping coefficients of a full-scale autonomous underwater vehicle. Simulations are performed for bare hull and hull equipped with four different hydroplanes. The hydrodynamic forces and moment are obtained to calculate hydrodynamic coefficients. Nonlinear damping coefficients are also obtained by using suitable curve fitting. Experiments of resistance and OTT are carried out in specific condition, for validation purpose. Following the extracting numerical results a mathematical model is developed to calculate hydrodynamic force for different sail type in order to predict autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) maneuverability. The results shows good agreement between theory and experiment