Additional Modelling for the Prediction of the Performance of Ocean Gliders

摘要

The objective of this research is to develop and validate a new model for the prediction of the behavior of an ocean glider during steady-state gliding. The analytical model is a combination of (i) espressions for the hydrody namic loads on the hull as obtained from towing tank experiments with a Planar Motion Mechanism (PMM), and, (ii) expressions for the hydrody namic loads on the whole vehicle which are formulated in terms of four parameters whose values are unknown. The role of the at sea experiments with an ocean glider is to determine values for these four parameters from measurements of the net buoyancy, pitch angle and rate of ascent and descent. This has been accomplished through the use of a specially-formulated parameter-identification scheme.