Endurance increase of autonomous underwater vehicles using polymeric coating technology for effective Arctic seabed exploration and monitoring

自主式水下航行器（AUV）在水下勘测、勘探和监视方面发挥着越来越重要的作用。加拿大尤其如此，它拥有超过200，000公里的海岸线（是其他国家的两倍多），北冰洋的大片地区被冰覆盖。因此，加拿大在某种程度上是独特的，因为目前这一代AUV的作战能力受到AUV射程的限制，AUV射程大约为数百公里。对北冰洋海底进行水深测量，勘探该地区的碳氢化合物储量，并秘密监视国际船只的这一偏远地区的能力对国家安全至关重要。拟议的研究重点是减少水下机器人的水动力阻力，以减少其功耗，从而增加其续航力（范围）。减阻策略是基于减阻聚合物作为溶解表面涂层的新实施方案。聚合物涂层逐渐溶解在海水中，减轻边界层湍流，并减少表面摩擦。减阻聚合物是环境友好的，并且还用于灌溉沃茨和食品工业。为了最大限度地提高AUV的耐久性，还将使用计算和实验研究来优化AUV的水上飞机和外部仪器的形状和位置，以减少压阻分量。拟议的研究计划的结果还提供了专门为北极作业设计的下一代加拿大水下航行器的开发所需的设计，数值和实验知识和专业知识。****

Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are continually playing an increased role for underwater surveying, exploration, and surveillance. This is particularly true for Canada, which has over 200,000 km of coastline (more than double any other nation), and vast regions of Arctic Ocean covered by ice. As such, Canada is somewhat unique in that operational capabilities of the current generation of AUV's are limited by AUV range, which is on the order of hundreds of kilometers. The ability to conduct bathymetric surveys of the Arctic Ocean floor, explore the region for hydrocarbons reserves, and covertly monitor this remote location for international vessels is critical to national security.**The proposed research focuses on reducing the hydrodynamic drag of AUVs to reduce their power consumption and, thus, increases their endurance (range). The drag reduction strategy is based on a novel implementation of drag reducing polymers as a dissolving surface coating. The polymer coating gradually dissolves in seawater, mitigates boundary layer turbulence, and reduces the skin-friction. The drag reducing polymers are environmentally friendly and are also used in irrigation waters and food industry. In order to maximize the AUV endurance, shape and position of the hydroplanes and external instrumentation of the AUV will also be optimized using computational and experimental investigations to also reduce the pressure drag component. The results of the proposed research program also provide design, numerical, and experimental knowledge and expertise required for development of next generation Canadian underwater vehicles specifically designed for operation in the Arctic. ****