Design and dynamic modeling of an unmanned underwater vehicle for submerged surface inspection exploiting hydrodynamic ground effect

Anticipated growth of sub-sea technologies for security, infrastructure inspection, and exploration, motivates a deeper understanding of underwater navigation in proximity to a submerged target surface. Common examples range from water tanks in nuclear reactors, submerged oil rig infrastructure, to ship hulls with hidden compartments and threats. We propose EVIE (Ellipsoidal Vehicle for Inspection and Exploration): a water jet propelled, football sized ellipsoidal Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV) with a flattened base to house necessary sensors needed for surface inspections. The UUV is designed - both in terms of its shape and propulsion - for gliding on submerged surfaces for volumetric inspection, in addition to motion in free stream motion for visual inspections. This thesis research explores the ground effect hydrodynamics due to the motion of a body near a surface.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctoral

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2017

Author dc:creator

• Bhattacharyya, Sampriti.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Harry Asada.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/122882

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/122882