Thruster Interactions on Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

Autonomous underwater vehicles are a developing technology capable of undertaking a wide variety of different tasks. The development of these vehicles is aided by the use of simulations of their performance. These simulations require accurate modelling of the propulsion and control devices employed to calculate the response of a vehicle to different situations and control strategies. Simulations of underwater vehicles tend to include models of the dynamic performance of the thrusters employed, however, the simulations neglect some of the hydrodynamic interaction effects. These interaction effects include thruster–hull and thruster–thruster interactions similar to those encountered on dynamic positioning surface vessels. This paper assesses these effects for autonomous underwater vehicles and, where appropriate, suggests models for use in simulations.