Maneuverability Analysis of a Novel Portable Modular AUV

Abstract

ZFAUV is a novel portable modular AUV. There are four fixed thrusters at tail, and two tunnel thrusters are set at front. The maneuverability of ZFAUV is relatively high. It can turn around in situ, move lateral or move up/down vertical. The yaw and pitch can be controlled by tunnel thrusters or differential control of tail thrusters, but differential control will reduce the forward force. Different from propeller-rudder AUVs, the turning radius is related to speed forward: the smaller the speed forward, the smaller the turning radius. The minimum turning radius tends to be zero. The mathematical model is built first; then CFD is used to predict the thrust and torque of tail thrusters and tunnel thrusters. Through numerical simulation, zigzag maneuver analysis in horizontal plane, and trapezoidal steering maneuver analysis in vertical plane, the maneuverability of ZFAUV is obtained. The maneuverability of ZFAUV becomes worse with the increase of speed. The maneuverability of differential control is better than that of tunnel control. In the case of specific thrust distribution of tail thrusters and tunnel thrusters, ZFAUV can turn around in situ (the maximum angular velocity is about 24.1°/s), move lateral or move up/down vertical (the maximum velocity is about 0.4m/s). Finally, an example, PID parameters tuning, is given to illustrate the application of maneuverability analysis. The dynamic performance of ZFAUV can be quickly and accurately analyzed by mathematical method, which has important guiding significance for the choice of control strategy and experiments and also has reference value for the later development of AUVs.