earticle

영어

Maneuverability is the key performance indicator of an underwater vehicle and depends on the lifting force of the vehicle’s driving control fin. The easiest way to increase the control force is to enlarge the total fin size, but such has many limitations. Therefore, we modified the design of the control fin and verified the enhancement of the control force using CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) analysis and a towing tank experiment. In addition, we conducted 6-DOF (Degree of Freedom) simulations, such as level flight, turning circle motion, and zigzag motion, to check the maneuverability of the underwater vehicle. As a result, the control force increased by about 20% and the maneuverability improved in comparison with that of the conventional control fin. This process is very important because it can be applied to the overall configuration design of an underwater vehicle.