Numerical simulation and hydrodynamics analysis of a tethered underwater robot with control equipment

The study investigates the tethered underwater robot's maneuverability and hydrodynamic performance in a uniform flow field. A tethered underwater robot that installs a symmetrically Ka 4–70/19A ducted propellers and vertical rudder is first constructed to simulate the motion. The numerical simulation is based on the multiples computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques, such as overlapping grid, sliding mesh, and finite volume method that solves the N–S equations. The six-degrees-of-freedom model and relative motion principle are also adopted to investigate the hydrodynamic performance of the tethered underwater robot at different towing speeds. The reliability of the numerical method is verified by the experimental result. The numerical results indicate that the control effect of control equipment is greatly influenced by the towing speeds, and the mutual effect between the tethered underwater robot and control equipment is not negligible.