Research on hydrodynamic performance of an AUH equipped with the vertical vectored propulsor

This paper presents a comprehensive study of a novel disc-shaped Autonomous Underwater Helicopter (AUH) with capabilities of full-circle steering, free take-off, anti-flow and landing. To enhance vertical motion ability, a new type of vertical vector propulsor composed of paddles is proposed for the AUH to realise AUH's instantaneous diving capability. The research focuses especially on investigating the hydrodynamic performance of AUH regarding instantaneous diving movement using the RANS method to evaluate the hydrodynamics of the AUH. The CFD simulation results indicate that the configuration with two paddles, a paddle area ratio phi of 0.06 and a pitch angle of about 30 degrees, positively yields the most significant impact on AUH's hydrodynamic performance in the vertical motion. To validate the simulation data, the pool experiment was conducted. The experimental and simulation data for the spinning AUH reaching a horizontal rotation speed of 28.65 RPM without vertical speed exhibit a maximum error of 8.72%.