Linearized 1-DoF Dynamic Model of an Underwater Vehicle Using CFD

Abstract

The development of a dynamic model for yaw while considering the hydrodynamic forces acting on an underwater vehicle is inevitable if its performance during a mission like underwater structure inspection is to be examined. However, the high cost of underwater testing makes it impractical to obtain a model that adequately characterizes the vehicle dynamics. Therefore, this work suggests employing computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach to develop a yaw model of the vehicle. Drag coefficient in the dynamic model is obtained using CFD analysis. On the other hand, the data from the thrust curve is used to compute the thrust coefficient. The resulting transfer function model is validated with experimental data of the vehicle. The model synthesised using the proposed approach is discovered to agree with the experimental results.