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1 – 10 of 925
Article
Publication date: 25 May 2012

Fang Ji, Xiongliang Yao and Aman Zhang

The structure‐borne sound generated by power equipment can be isolated effectively through vibration absorber under hull base structures. The practical vibration isolation…

Abstract

Purpose

The structure‐borne sound generated by power equipment can be isolated effectively through vibration absorber under hull base structures. The practical vibration isolation performance is limited due to the weight, size and cost. The dramatic attenuating wave propagation characteristic of hull base without adding weight is essential to the vessel acoustic stealth.

Design/methodology/approach

The characteristics of vibration wave propagated from typical shape base link structures have been investigated according to impedance mismatch and wave conversion in non‐homogeneous structure. The hull base is simplified to three degrees of freedom damped system through the mechanical impedance method. The influence of blocking mass weight, as well as location properties to the base vibration isolation performance have been discussed. Furthermore, the structure‐borne sound design of a typical hull base is carried out.

Findings

The impedance mismatch of the hull base is further increased by the comprehensive use of high transmission loss base link structures, blocking mass as well as damping layer. The effectiveness of structure‐borne sound design is verified through numerical calculation together with underwater model test. The test data show that the noise has been reduced larger than 3 dB.

Originality/value

The paper describes what is believed to be the first application of the high transmission loss base in hull structures based on the literature survey. The method of structure‐borne sound design of a typical hull base can be applied in different types of vessels.

Article
Publication date: 12 November 2019

Wu Huijun, Zhan Diao and Kaizuo Fan

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the durability of underwater non-dispersible concrete in seawater environment.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the durability of underwater non-dispersible concrete in seawater environment.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, ten groups of underwater non-dispersible concrete mixtures were designed, and the anti-dispersibility and fluidity of the mixtures were tested.

Findings

The durability test analysis shows that different pouring methods have different effects on the durability of concrete. The durability of concrete poured on land is better than that poured in water. Different mineral admixtures have different effects on the durability of concrete: the frost resistance of the underwater non-dispersible concrete specimens with silica fume is the best; the impermeability and chloride ion permeability of the non-dispersible underwater concrete specimens with waterproofing agent are the best; and the alternation of wetting and drying has adverse effects on the durability indexes of the non-dispersible underwater concrete.

Originality/value

The durability of underwater non-dispersible concrete is tested and the results can be used for reference in engineering practice.

Details

International Journal of Structural Integrity, vol. 11 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1757-9864

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 January 2024

Zhuoyu Zhang, Lijia Zhong, Mingwei Lin, Ri Lin and Dejun Li

Docking technology plays a crucial role in enabling long-duration operations of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). Visual positioning solutions alone are susceptible to…

Abstract

Purpose

Docking technology plays a crucial role in enabling long-duration operations of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). Visual positioning solutions alone are susceptible to abnormal drift values due to the challenging underwater optical imaging environment. When an AUV approaches the docking station, the absolute positioning method fails if the AUV captures an insufficient number of tracers. This study aims to to provide a more stable absolute position visual positioning method for underwater terminal visual docking.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper presents a six-degree-of-freedom positioning method for AUV terminal visual docking, which uses lights and triangle codes. The authors use an extended Kalman filter to fuse the visual calculation results with inertial measurement unit data. Moreover, this paper proposes a triangle code recognition and positioning algorithm.

Findings

The authors conducted a simulation experiment to compare the underwater positioning performance of triangle codes, AprilTag and Aruco. The results demonstrate that the implemented triangular code reduces the running time by over 70% compared to the other two codes, and also exhibits a longer recognition distance in turbid environments. Subsequent experiments were carried out in Qingjiang Lake, Hubei Province, China, which further confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed positioning algorithm.

Originality/value

This fusion approach effectively mitigates abnormal drift errors stemming from visual positioning and cumulative errors resulting from inertial navigation. The authors also propose a triangle code recognition and positioning algorithm as a supplementary approach to overcome the limitations of tracer light positioning beacons.

Details

Industrial Robot: the international journal of robotics research and application, vol. 51 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-991X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 January 2022

Serhat Yilmaz and Gülten Altıokka Yılmaz

The development of robust control algorithms for the position, velocity and trajectory control of unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) depends on the accuracy of their mathematical…

Abstract

Purpose

The development of robust control algorithms for the position, velocity and trajectory control of unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) depends on the accuracy of their mathematical models. Accuracy of the model is determined by precise estimation of the UUV hydrodynamic parameters. The purpose of this study is to determine the hydrodynamic forces and moments acting on an underwater vehicle with complex body geometry and moving at low speeds and to achieve the accurate coefficients associated with them.

Design/methodology/approach

A three-dimensional (3D) computer-aided design (CAD) model of UUV is designed with one-to-one dimensions. 3D fluid flow simulations are conducted using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software programme in the solution of Navier Stokes equations for laminar and turbulent flow analysis. The coefficients depending on the hydrodynamic forces and moments are determined by the external flow analysis using the CFD programme. The Flow Simulation k-ε turbulence model is used for the transition from laminar flow to turbulent flow. Hydrodynamic properties such as lift and drag coefficients and roll and yaw moment coefficients are calculated. The parameters are compared with the coefficient values found by experimental methods.

Findings

Although the modular type UUV has a complex body geometry, the comparative results of the experiments and simulations confirm that the defined model parameters are accurate and close to the actual experimental values. In the proposed k-ε method, the percentage error in the estimation of drag and lifting coefficients is decreased to 4.2% and 8.39%, respectively.

Practical implications

The model coefficients determined in this study can be used in high-level control simulations which leads to the development of robust real-time controllers for complex-shaped modular UUVs.

Originality/value

The Lucky Fin UUV with 4 degrees of freedom is a specific design and its CAD model is first extracted. Verification of simulation results by experiments is generally less referenced in studies. However, it provides more precise parameter identification of the model. Proposed study offers a simple and low-cost experimental measurement method for verification of the hydrodynamic parameters. The extracted model and coefficients are worthwhile references for the analysis of modular type UUVs.

Details

Industrial Robot: the international journal of robotics research and application, vol. 50 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-991X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 April 2014

Zongduo Wu, Zhi Zong and Lei Sun

– The purpose of this paper is to provide an improved Mie-Grüneisen mixture model to simulate underwater explosion (UNDEX).

395

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide an improved Mie-Grüneisen mixture model to simulate underwater explosion (UNDEX).

Design/methodology/approach

By using Mie-Grüneisen equations of state (EOS) to model explosive charge, liquid water and solid structure, the whole fluid field is considered as a multi-phases mixture under Mie-Grüneisen EOS. Then by introducing auxiliary variables in Eulerian model and using mass fraction to establish a diffusion balance, a new improved Mie-Grüneisen mixture model is presented here. For the new reconstructed mixture model, a second order MUSCL scheme with TVD limiter is employed to solve the multi-phase Riemann problem.

Findings

Numerical examples show that the results obtained by Mie-Grüneisen mixture model are quite closed to theoretical and empirical data. The model can be also used in 2-D fluid-structure problem of UNDEX effectively and it is proved that the deformation of structure can be clearly described by mass fraction.

Research limitations/implications

The FVM model based on mass fraction can only describe the motion of compressible material under impact. Material failure or large deformation needs a modification about the EOS or implementations of other models (i.e. FEM model).

Originality/value

An improved non-oscillation Mie-Grüneisen mixture model, which based on mass fraction, is given in the present paper. The present Mie-Grüneisen mixture model provides a simplified and efficient way to simulate UNDEX. The feasibility of this model to simulate the detonation impacts on different mediums, including water and other metal mediums, is tested and verified here. Then the model is applied to the simulation of underwater contact explosion problem. In the simulation, deformation of structure under explosion loads, as well as second shock wave, are studied here.

Details

Engineering Computations, vol. 31 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0264-4401

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 June 2019

Rui Zhang, Lei Zhao, Dan Xie, Jinlong Song, Wendong Zhang, Lihu Pan and Yanhua Zhang

This study aims to simulate and test the performance of a transmitting and receiving capacitive micro-machined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT). Aimed at detecting demand of the CMUT…

179

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to simulate and test the performance of a transmitting and receiving capacitive micro-machined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT). Aimed at detecting demand of the CMUT, a matched integrated adjustment circuit was designed through analyzing processing methods of transducer’s weak echo signal.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on the analysis of CMUT array structure and work principle, the CMUT units are designed and the dynamic performance analysis of SIMULINK is given according to the demand of underwater detecting. A transceiver isolation circuit is used to make transmission mode and receiving mode separate. A detection circuit is designed based on the transimpedance amplifier to achieve extraction of high-frequency and weak signal.

Findings

Through experimentation, the effectiveness of the CMUT performance simulation and the transceiver integrated adjustment circuit were verified. In addition, the test showed that CMUT with 400 kHz frequency has wider bandwidth and better dynamic characteristics than other similar transducers.

Originality/value

This paper provides a theoretical basis and design reference for the development and application of CMUT technology.

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 4 August 2020

Alessandra Lumini, Loris Nanni and Gianluca Maguolo

In this paper, we present a study about an automated system for monitoring underwater ecosystems. The system here proposed is based on the fusion of different deep learning…

2257

Abstract

In this paper, we present a study about an automated system for monitoring underwater ecosystems. The system here proposed is based on the fusion of different deep learning methods. We study how to create an ensemble based of different Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) models, fine-tuned on several datasets with the aim of exploiting their diversity. The aim of our study is to experiment the possibility of fine-tuning CNNs for underwater imagery analysis, the opportunity of using different datasets for pre-training models, the possibility to design an ensemble using the same architecture with small variations in the training procedure.

Our experiments, performed on 5 well-known datasets (3 plankton and 2 coral datasets) show that the combination of such different CNN models in a heterogeneous ensemble grants a substantial performance improvement with respect to other state-of-the-art approaches in all the tested problems. One of the main contributions of this work is a wide experimental evaluation of famous CNN architectures to report the performance of both the single CNN and the ensemble of CNNs in different problems. Moreover, we show how to create an ensemble which improves the performance of the best single model. The MATLAB source code is freely link provided in title page.

Details

Applied Computing and Informatics, vol. 19 no. 3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2634-1964

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 March 2023

Rainald Löhner, Lingquan Li, Orlando Antonio Soto and Joseph David Baum

This study aims to evaluate blast loads on and the response of submerged structures.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to evaluate blast loads on and the response of submerged structures.

Design/methodology/approach

An arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian method is developed to model fluid–structure interaction (FSI) problems of close-in underwater explosions (UNDEX). The “fluid” part provides the loads for the structure considers air, water and high explosive materials. The spatial discretization for the fluid domain is performed with a second-order vertex-based finite volume scheme with a tangent of hyperbola interface capturing technique. The temporal discretization is based on explicit Runge–Kutta methods. The structure is described by a large-deformation Lagrangian formulation and discretized via finite elements. First, one-dimensional test cases are given to show that the numerical method is free of mesh movement effects. Thereafter, three-dimensional FSI problems of close-in UNDEX are studied. Finally, the computation of UNDEX near a ship compartment is performed.

Findings

The difference in the flow mechanisms between rigid targets and deforming targets is quantified and evaluated.

Research limitations/implications

Cavitation is modeled only approximately and may require further refinement/modeling.

Practical implications

The results demonstrate that the proposed numerical method is accurate, robust and versatile for practical use.

Social implications

Better design of naval infrastructure [such as bridges, ports, etc.].

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study has been conducted for the first time.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 33 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 August 2020

Liqin Zhou, Changbin Wang, Lin Li, Chengxi Zhang, Dalei Song and Chong Li

A novel fault-tolerant control (FTC) method is proposed to assure the stability of the remote-operated vehicle (ROV) by considering the thruster failure-induced model

Abstract

Purpose

A novel fault-tolerant control (FTC) method is proposed to assure the stability of the remote-operated vehicle (ROV) by considering the thruster failure-induced model perturbations. The stability of the ROV with failures is guaranteed and optimized with the determined model perturbation set. The effectiveness of the double-boundary interval fault-tolerant control (DBIFTC) is verified through the experiments and proves that the stability is well maintained, which demonstrates a decent performance.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper studies a control problem for a multi-vector propulsion ROV by using the DBIFTC method in the presence of thruster failure and external disturbances. The ROV kinematics and dynamical models with multi-vector-arranged thruster failure are investigated and formulated for control system design.

Findings

In this paper, the authors address the FTC problem of ROV with multi-vector thrusters and propose a DBIFTC scheme. The advantage is that as the kinematic system model of ROV is preanalyzed and identified, the DBIFTC becomes more effective. The mathematical stability of the system under the proposed control scheme can be guaranteed.

Research limitations/implications

The ROV model used in this paper is based on the system identification of experimental data. Although this model has real experimental value and physical significance, the accuracy can be further improved.

Practical implications

Cable-controlled underwater ROVs are widely used in military missions and scientific research because of their flexibility, sufficient load capacity and real-time information transmission characteristics. The DBIFTC method proposed in this paper can effectively reduce the problem of underwater vehicle under propeller failure or external disturbance and save unnecessary cost.

Social implications

The DBIFTC method proposed in this paper can ensure the attitude stability of ROV or other underwater equipment operating in the event of propeller failure or external disturbance. In this way, the robot can better perform undersea work and tasks.

Originality/value

The kinematics and failure mechanisms of the ROV with multi-vector propulsion system are investigated and established. An optimized DBIFTC scheme is investigated to stabilize ROV yaw attitude under the thruster failure condition. The feasibility and effectiveness of the DBIFTC is experimentally validated.

Details

Industrial Robot: the international journal of robotics research and application, vol. 48 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-991X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 June 2019

Shujing Zhang, Manyu Zhang, Yujie Cui, Xingyue Liu, Bo He and Jiaxing Chen

This paper aims to propose a fast machine compression scheme, which can solve the problem of low-bandwidth transmission for underwater images.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to propose a fast machine compression scheme, which can solve the problem of low-bandwidth transmission for underwater images.

Design/methodology/approach

This fast machine compression scheme mainly consists of three stages. Firstly, raw images are fed into the image pre-processing module, which is specially designed for underwater color images. Secondly, a divide-and-conquer (D&C) image compression framework is developed to divide the problem of image compression into a manageable size. And extreme learning machine (ELM) is introduced to substitute for principal component analysis (PCA), which is a traditional transform-based lossy compression algorithm. The execution time of ELM is very short, thus the authors can compress the images at a much faster speed. Finally, underwater color images can be recovered from the compressed images.

Findings

Experiment results show that the proposed scheme can not only compress the images at a much faster speed but also maintain the acceptable perceptual quality of reconstructed images.

Originality/value

This paper proposes a fast machine compression scheme, which combines the traditional PCA compression algorithm with the ELM algorithm. Moreover, a pre-processing module and a D&C image compression framework are specially designed for underwater images.

Details

Sensor Review, vol. 39 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0260-2288

Keywords

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