Author(s)

João Victor Nunes de Sousa, Antônio Roberto Lins de Macêdo, Wanderley Ferreira de Amorim Junior, Antonio Gilson Barbosa de Lima

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Department of Mechanical Engineering, Center of Sciences and Technology, Federal University of Campina Grande, Campina Grande, Brazil.

Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) are robots able to perform tasks without human intervention (remote operators). Research and development of this class of vehicles has growing, due to the excellent characteristics of the AUVs to operate in different situations. Therefore, this study aims to analyze turbulent single fluid flow over different geometric configurations of an AUV hull, in order to obtain test geometry that generates lower drag force, which reduces the energy consumption of the vehicle, thereby increasing their autonomy during operation. In the numerical analysis was used ANSYS-CFX® 11.0 software, which is a powerful tool for solving problems involving fluid mechanics. Results of the velocity (vectors and streamlines), pressure distribution and drag coefficient are showed and analyzed. Optimum hull geometry was found. Lastly, a relationship between the geometric parameters analyzed and the drag coefficient was obtained.

AUV, Hull, Drag Coefficient, Numerical Simulation

Victor Nunes de Sousa, J. , Roberto Lins de Macêdo, A. , Ferreira de Amorim Junior, W. and Gilson Barbosa de Lima, A. (2014) Numerical Analysis of Turbulent Fluid Flow and Drag Coefficient for Optimizing the AUV Hull Design. Open Journal of Fluid Dynamics, 4, 263-277. doi: 10.4236/ojfd.2014.43020.