CAREER: Modeling and Control of Undulating-Fin Underwater Vessels in Close Formation

这个学院早期职业发展计划(CALEAR)项目将研究配备生物灵感鳍推进系统的水下航行器。研究中的具体结构包括沿飞行器长度方向运行的单个波浪鳍，它控制着向前运动和定向机动。该项目将首先使用分析、计算和实验研究来描述鳍的形状和运动如何与单个船舶的运动相关。然后，这些结果将扩展到由多艘编队行驶的船只组成的合作小组。特别令人感兴趣的是编队如何充分利用每艘船起伏的鳍提供的控制输入，以提高集体机动性和效率，并改变远场尾流模式。该项目的结果将适用于其他相关的起伏推进和控制配置。这些多智能体水下系统的开发将使国家在科学和经济上受益，因为它允许高效和多功能的操作来勘探资源和进行海洋观测，而对水下环境的干扰最小。这些系统对国家国防也将是重要的，因为它们能够长途旅行，执行多个同时独立的任务，并控制它们的声学特征。在工程学方面代表性不足的群体--特别是西班牙裔学生--将被招募到这个项目中，从而增加工程学学生群体和未来美国劳动力的多样性。这项研究项目将对一类起伏的鳍水下机器人进行单独和集体的研究，以了解水动力相互作用如何影响船只和编队的速度、尾迹特征、能源效率和操纵性。最重要的是，每个试剂都应该充分利用系统内的流体动力相互作用，以及与周围流体环境的相互作用。研究计划的目标包括：(I)测量单个和多个船只的动力学和尾流；(Ii)建立系统的动力学模型；(Iii)建立将鳍运动学参数与船只运动相关联的控制模型；(Iv)研究一系列仿生水下船只的性能和水动力相互作用。这项研究将结合实验工作和使用一种新型的具有起伏鳍推进的仿生船进行建模。这些方法将包括运动学、水动力、流场和功率消耗的测量。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) project will study underwater vehicles equipped with a bio-inspired fin-based propulsion system. The specific configuration under study consists of a single undulating fin running along the length of the vehicle, which controls both forward motion and directional maneuvers. The project will first use analytical, computational, and experimental studies to describe how the fin shape and motion relates to the movement of a single vessel. Those results will then be extended to cooperative groups of multiple vessels traveling in formation. Of particular interest are the ways in which formations can make full use of the control inputs available from each vessel's undulating fin to improve collective maneuverability and efficiency, and to alter far-field wake patterns. The results of the project will be applicable to other related undulating propulsion and control configurations. The development of these multi-agent underwater systems will benefit the nation scientifically and economically, by allowing efficient and versatile operation to explore for resources and perform oceanographic observations, with minimal disturbance to the underwater environment. These systems will also be important to the nation's defense, due to their ability to travel long distances, perform multiple simultaneous independent tasks, and control their acoustic signature. Groups underrepresented in engineering -- in particular Hispanic students -- will be recruited for this project, thus increasing the diversity of the engineering student body and the future US workforce. This research project will investigate a class of undulating fin underwater vehicles, both singly and collectively, leading to understanding of how hydrodynamic interactions affect the speed, wake signature, energy efficiency, and maneuverability of the vessels and the formation. Critically, each agent should fully exploit hydrodynamic interaction within the system, and also with the surrounding fluid environment. The objectives of the research program include (i) measuring the dynamics and wake of single and multiple vessels; (ii) developing a dynamic model of the system; (iii) establishing a control model relating parameters in the fin kinematics to the motion of the vessel; (iv) studying the performance and hydrodynamic interaction of an array of bio-inspired underwater vessels. The research will combine experimental work and modeling using a novel bio-mimetic vessel with undulating fin propulsion. The methods will include measurements of kinematics, hydrodynamic forces, flow fields and power consumption.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.