Steering performance of underwater glider in water column monitoring

An underwater glider was presented for water column monitoring, which could adjust its pitch angle within a large range. The underwater glider could realize both normal gliding and vertical profile monitoring by using a gravity center adjustment module with multiple degrees of freedom. Research was conducted to enhance the steering efficiency for the underwater glider and enlarge the spacing between different water column checkpoints. An amended hydrodynamic model for large range attack angles was presented. Hydrodynamic coefficients computation, motion simulations, and a lake trial were conducted to analyze how the position of the wing and the steering pitch angle influenced the steering process. The results of the simulations and the lake trial show that enlarging the distance between the wing and the tail, and decreasing the steering pitch angle can reduce the steering radius, enhance the steering ratio, and enhance the horizontal deviation distance on the desired orientation. The lake trial shows that steering with the optimal pitch angle at 5° decreases the steering radius by 66%, increases the steering ratio by 330%, and increases the desired deviation distance by 77% over steering with a normal pitch angle at 27°. © 2016, Zhejiang University Press. All right reserved.