CAREER: A Unified Research and Outreach Program in Nonlinear Vessel Dynamics

该学院早期职业发展(CAREAGE)项目旨在开发分析和计算工具，帮助船舶设计者了解和防止倾覆等危险船舶现象。该项目侧重于三个主要目标。(1)推进分析方法，特别是梅尔尼科夫方法在血管动力学现象中应用的最新进展。(2)建立了一套用于非线性操纵和耐波性仿真的验证和验证工具。(3)开发基于神经网络的实时运动预测工具。神经网络的组合，用于选择系统物理的适当理想化，以及优化，用于参数识别，将用于系统动力学的实时建模。这第三个目标用于统一前两个目标。通过将神经网络绑定到物理上有意义的方程，该方法对于计算工具验证是有价值的。此外，通过识别系统的实时理想化物理，分析方法可以应用于研究血管行为。这三个目标将进一步加深我们对船舶运动和其他混沌动力系统的行为和建模的理解。尽管海上旅行是最古老的交通工具之一，但船舶不稳定性每年都会夺走生命、货物和船只的生命。倾覆是一种高度非线性、动态、甚至是混沌的现象，我们对其有许多不完全了解的方面。上述研究目标有可能在多个学科中产生广泛影响，从海军工程到动力系统理论再到应用数学。这个职业项目的基础研究与积极的外展相结合，以招募和留住优秀的大学预科和大学学生进入一般的工程专业，特别是海军工程专业。这三个外展部分包括：(1)与当地高中合作，以西南部弗吉尼亚州州长学校为目标，建立学生对SeaPerch计划的参与，这是一个向大学预科学生传授机器人和水下机器人知识的动手计划。(2)参加和支持由促进工程多样性中心组织的活动，如妇女周末和学生的大学前学术体验。(3)保持互动和令人兴奋的学习环境，开设与本项目研究主题直接相关的课程。

This Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) project aims to develop analytical and computational tools that will help ship designers understand and prevent dangerous vessel phenomena such as capsizing. The project focuses upon three primary objectives. (1) Advance the state of the art in the application of analytical approaches, specifically Melnikov's method, to vessel dynamics phenomena. (2) Establish a suite of verification and validation tools for nonlinear maneuvering and seakeeping simulations. (3) Develop real-time, neural network based, motion prediction tools. A combination of neural networks, to choose an appropriate idealization of the physics of the system, and optimization, for parameter identification, will be used for real time modeling of system dynamics. This third objective serves to unify the first two. By tying a neural network to physically meaningful equations, this approach is valuable for computational tool validation. Moreover, by identifying real-time idealized physics of the system, analytical methods can be applied to study vessel behavior. All three of these objectives will further our understanding of the behavior and modeling of ship motions and other chaotic dynamical systems.Although travel by sea is one of the oldest means of transportation, ship instabilities claim lives, cargo, and craft every year. Capsize is a highly nonlinear, dynamic, even chaotic, phenomenon of which there are many facets we do not fully understand. The research objectives described above have the potential for broad impact in multiple disciplines from naval engineering to dynamical systems theory to applied mathematics. The fundamental research in this CAREER project is coupled with active outreach to recruit and retain outstanding pre-college and college students into engineering in general and naval engineering specifically. The three outreach components include: (1) Work in collaboration with local high schools, targeting the Southwest Virginia Governor's School, to build student participation in the SeaPerch program, a hands-on program that teaches pre-college students about robotics and underwater vehicles. (2) Participate and supporting events organized by the Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity such as Women's Weekend and pre-college academic experiences for students. (3) Maintain an interactive and exciting learning environment with courses directly related to the research topics in this project.