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Parametric Study for the Steady-State Equilibrium of a Towfish

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Abstract

The dynamic equilibrium in steady-state conditions is of great importance for the attitude control of an underwater towed vehicle. The paper aims to investigate which parameters allow to maintain a given horizontal attitude at a desired depth. Some simplifications as constant speed of the boat, negligible inertial effects of the towline are introduced in order to study the steady-state phase. Flexible cable modeling and hydrodynamic forces are coupled to rigid body statics to create a model able to determine the angles of the hydrodynamic profiles in order to maintain zero-pitch orientation at a given depth. Finally, a GUI interface, to help designers to predispose different strategies and to analyze equilibrium when some relevant parameters are varied, is developed. Two algorithms have been implemented inside the GUI interface to test steady-state equilibrium. A first direct algorithm computes total forces and pitch torque with assigned depth and angles of the ailerons/stabilizers. The second inverse algorithm finds, if possible, the angles of attack of the hydrodynamic profiles necessary to reach equilibrium.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale, Università degli Studi di Catania, Catania, Italy

    Alessandro Cammarata & Rosario Sinatra

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  1. Alessandro Cammarata
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  2. Rosario Sinatra
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Correspondence to Alessandro Cammarata.

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Cammarata, A., Sinatra, R. Parametric Study for the Steady-State Equilibrium of a Towfish. J Intell Robot Syst 81, 231–240 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-015-0246-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-015-0246-7

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