TY - JOUR
T1 - Numerical modelling and experimental testing of the hydrodynamic characteristics for an open-frame remotely operated vehicle
AU - Li, Qian
AU - Cao, Yu
AU - Li, Boyang
AU - Ingram, David M.
AU - Kiprakis, Aristides
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: This research is funded by the EPSRC as part of EP/R026173/1, the UK Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Hub for Offshore Energy Asset Integrity Management (ORCA-Hub).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by the authors.
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/9
Y1 - 2020/9
N2 - The remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) are important to provide the technology support for both the traditional offshore structures and rapidly-growing renewable energy facilities during their full-lifecycles, such as site survey, installation, inspection, maintenance and repair. Regarding the motion and performance of a ROV, the understanding of its hydrodynamic properties is essential when exposing to the disturbances of wave and current. In this study, a numerical model is proposed within the frame of an open-source platform OpenFOAM. The hydrodynamics of the adopted ROV (BlueRov2) in its four principal degrees of freedoms (DOFs) is numerically simulated by a Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) solver. Meanwhile, an experimental test is carried out by using a novel technique on measuring the hydrodynamic forces and moments. To validate the numerical prediction methodologies, a set of systematic simulations of the ROV subjected to the disturbances caused by various flow conditions are performed. Comparing to the model test measurement, the numerical model proved to be reliable in offering a good estimation of the hydrodynamic parameters. This also indicates that the presented numerical methodologies and experimental techniques can be applied to other types of open-frame ROVs in quantifying the hydrodynamic parameters, capturing the physics of the fluid-structure interaction (FSI) and feature of the turbulent vorticity which are all essential for the effective control of the ROVs under the nonlinear flow disturbances.
AB - The remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) are important to provide the technology support for both the traditional offshore structures and rapidly-growing renewable energy facilities during their full-lifecycles, such as site survey, installation, inspection, maintenance and repair. Regarding the motion and performance of a ROV, the understanding of its hydrodynamic properties is essential when exposing to the disturbances of wave and current. In this study, a numerical model is proposed within the frame of an open-source platform OpenFOAM. The hydrodynamics of the adopted ROV (BlueRov2) in its four principal degrees of freedoms (DOFs) is numerically simulated by a Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) solver. Meanwhile, an experimental test is carried out by using a novel technique on measuring the hydrodynamic forces and moments. To validate the numerical prediction methodologies, a set of systematic simulations of the ROV subjected to the disturbances caused by various flow conditions are performed. Comparing to the model test measurement, the numerical model proved to be reliable in offering a good estimation of the hydrodynamic parameters. This also indicates that the presented numerical methodologies and experimental techniques can be applied to other types of open-frame ROVs in quantifying the hydrodynamic parameters, capturing the physics of the fluid-structure interaction (FSI) and feature of the turbulent vorticity which are all essential for the effective control of the ROVs under the nonlinear flow disturbances.
KW - Experimental test
KW - Hydrodynamic forces and moments
KW - Numerical simulation
KW - Remotely operated vehicle
KW - Turbulent flow modelling
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85091717696&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/JMSE8090688
DO - 10.3390/JMSE8090688
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85091717696
VL - 8
JO - Journal of Marine Science and Engineering
JF - Journal of Marine Science and Engineering
SN - 2077-1312
IS - 9
M1 - 688
ER -