Design of an Experimental Apparatus to Measure the Motions of a Towed Submersible Environmental Sensor Vehicle

摘要

An experimental investigation of the motions of a towed submersible sensing vehicle due to external forcing functions of surge and heave is made. Using the U.S. Naval Academy's high speed tow tank facility, experiments were conducted using a half scale model of a current NCSC towed vehicle in which was carried a motion measurement package that measured pitch, roll, yaw, longitudinal and vertical accelerations. Surge and heave displacements at various forcing frequencies and displacements up to + or - 1.0 ft were generated after developing excitation apparatus that would be compatible with the tow tank facility. Effects of tow cable geometry and towing speeds were investigated. A simple mathematical model for heaving motion was developed to lend verification to experimental measurements. An audio-colored visual tape of the experimental study was made showing the salient aspects of the investigation. (Author)