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This paper presents a numerical study of the depth tracking control for an underwater towed system under wave–ship interference condition. To overcome the laminations of ignoring the hydrodynamic factors and wave–ship interference in the existing simulation model for the depth tracking operation of the underwater towed system, a numerical model combining the control system with the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method based on the overset mesh technique is explored and constructed; the influence of towing ship and head waves is introduced into the numerical analysis of the underwater towed system; a depth control system based on the center of gravity adjustment is proposed and its control characteristics are discussed. The fluid motion around the towed vehicle and the towing ship is governed by the Navier–Stokes equations, and the overset mesh technique is applied for the numerical solution of the equations. The towing cable connecting the towed vehicle and towing ship is governed by the quasi-steady-state catenary equations. The depth tracking controller adjusting the longitudinal position of a shifting weight is constructed based on the proportional–integral–derivative (PID) algorithm. The simulation results show that the numerical simulation system is practicable, and the depth tracking control system is feasible, effective, and robust.

A numerical technique to simulate the hydrodynamic behavior of ducted propellers attached to an underwater vehicle traveling under the mutually interacting flow fields of the vehicle and the propellers is proposed; the hydrodynamic performance of the propellers and the hydrodynamic loading on the main body of the vehicle when it is in different kinds of motion is investigated numerically. In the research, 3D geometric models of the duct, propeller, and main body of the vehicle are first constructed according to their geometrical features. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technique based on the hybrid algorithm of dynamic mesh-nested sliding mesh is applied to solve the Navier–Stokes equations that govern the fluid motion around the duct, propeller, and main body of the vehicle when it is in motion. These equations are solved numerically with the CFD code Fluent. With the proposed numerical simulation technique, the hydrodynamic characteristics of the thrusts generated by the ducted propellers and the loading on the main body in the vehicle system under the mutually interacting flow fields are observed. The results of our numerical simulation indicate that the hybrid algorithm of dynamic mesh-nested sliding mesh can simulate multiple degrees of freedom of motion in underwater vehicle systems. In different motion states, the main body exerts a significant influence on the investigated flow fields; during the vehicle motions, negative wakes are formed on both sides of the main body, which lead to a decrease in the thrusts generated by the propellers on both sides. The thrust of the middle propeller is greater than that of the normal single one because of the obstructing effect in the tunnel caused by the main body.

The maneuverability and hydrodynamic performance of the tethered underwater robot in a uniform flow field is investigated. In this research, a tethered underwater robot symmetrically installed with NACA66 hydrofoils and Ka 4-70/19A ducted propellers around its main body is first constructed. The method of overlapping grid combined with sliding mesh is applied in the numerical simulations, and the principle of relative motion is adopted to describe the hydrodynamic responses of the tethered underwater robot during the robot manipulation. The reliability of the CFD methods applied in this research is verified by experimental results, and the comparison between numerical and experimental ones shows that there is very little difference being found. The numerical results indicate that computational cost due to the research’s large-scale domain can be effectively reduced by the adopted numerical methods, hydrofoils’ control effect is greatly influenced by the towing speeds, and thrusts issued from the ducted propellers are related to the tethered underwater robot’s position and towing speed.