In the beginning of the Fall 2023 semester, I founded a research
team to investigate optimizing hydrodynamics of Autonomous Underwater
Gliders (AUGs). The primary goal was to develop a novel hydrofoil wing for AUGs, and investigate the feasibility of implementing it on a proposed novel class of AUG with significantly better hydrodynamic efficiency than current AUGs.
CFD of Control Hydrofoil
CFD of Novel Hydrofoil
My contributions and experience gained include:
- Designed Novel Hydrofoil for use with underwater gliders with 35% drag reduction - Conducted Ansys Fluent CFD on wings and hull.
- Designed and ran tow tank experiments for experimental validation of
CFD using the testing facility at MIT Seagrant - Designed concept for novel "mini-glider" AUG, combining improved wings, hull, and other features
- Proposed mini-glider has 303% improvement in hydrodynamic efficiency, allowing long range despite 1/10th the battery capacity of standard AUGs
- Led and coordinated software, electrical, and mechanical subteams
- Python data analysis of the tow tank test data
CFD studies included (among other things):
- Mesh Sensitivity Analysis for each geometry tested
- Boundary layer mesh based on y+ calculations - Computational domain sized based on industry best practices
To obtain starting values for velocity, Reynolds number, and get an order of magnitude
sense of what to expect before starting CFD, the team built a 1:1 scale hydrodynamic
test model of the AUG and measured its flight trajectory underwater. The velocity, lift,
and drag data were used as jumping-off points to start our CFD and other further analysis.
