Session: 06-05-01 Marine Hydrodynamics I

Paper Number: 78583

78583 - Design of the Propulsion System for the Autonomous XLUUV MUM 

The present work describes the requirements, approach and implementation of the propulsion system design of a new type XLUUV. Special features of the vessel are the patented flexible arrangement of modules - making the vehicle modifiable to different scenarios and ranges, the zero-emission concept using fuel cells for power generation and the autonomous vehicle guidance. The approach inherits total autonomy from start to end of the mission, both at the quay. All phases of a mission comprising departure, transit, operation and landing shall be completed without human interference. As there is no tether, a complete mission must be executed with the onboard stored energy. The propulsion and maneuvering system is designed for efficiency during long transit distances, laid-out for operation in harsh sea states during surfaced transit and suitable for dynamic positioning. The XLUUV is designed within the frame of a national German joint research project managed by thyssenkrupp Marine Systems. The hydrodynamic simulations are conducted by TU Berlin and maneuvering performance is assessed by the University of Rostock to finally be able to fulfil the requirements for the control system design to realize the necessary autonomy functionalities.

The paper describes in brief the propulsion system consisting of fuel cell, battery and propulsion motors. It further describes requirements, technical assessment and value analysis guiding to possible suitable solutions for the choice and arrangement of propulsion units. The latter are analyzed by hydrodynamic calculations and dimensioned to the required forces. For the investigation, the elements are tailored to their different operation purpose, being transit, maneuvering and dynamic positioning. A long transit which can be several hundred nautical miles requires an efficient main propulsion system and maneuvering for course keeping, whereas dynamic positioning and sailing in waves need power reserves and fast changing thrust directions. Actuator capability plots are calculated to evaluate the propulsion and drive configurations with respect to the maneuverability of the vehicle. For this purpose, the forces and moments that can be generated around the vehicle axes for different vehicle operating modes are determined based on a static actuator allocation. Subsequently, the applied representations can be compared for the described operational modes and configurations. Finally, the results are then fed back into the vehicle design and the specific module arrangement of MUM in the sense of an iterative design approach.

Calculations and simulations are presented for resistance and propulsion for different concepts and thruster arrangements of the vessel with analytical methods and via RANS-CFD. The maneuvering behavior is assessed with dynamic modeling of the system and the dynamic positioning capability via stationary force-based assessment.

Presenting Author: Martin Greve thyssenkrupp Marine Systems

Authors:

Martin Greve thyssenkrupp Marine Systems
Martin Kurowski Universität Rostock, Institut für Automatisierungstechnik
Sebastian Ritz Technische Universität Berlin, Institut für Land- und Seeverkehr, FG Entwurf und Betrieb Maritimer Systeme
Matthias Golz Technische Universität Berlin, Institut für Land- und Seeverkehr, FG Entwurf und Betrieb Maritimer Systeme
Lakshmi Narasiman Vijayasarathi Technische Universität Berlin, Institut für Land- und Seeverkehr, FG Entwurf und Betrieb Maritimer Systeme
Nursen Bayazit Technische Universität Berlin, Institut für Land- und Seeverkehr, FG Entwurf und Betrieb Maritimer Systeme
Erik Rentzow Universität Rostock, Institut für Automatisierungstechnik