An Approach for Modeling the Dynamics of ROV-Cable Control Systems in Tidal-Inlet Environments

JORDAN, MARIO ALBERTO; BUSTAMANTE, JORGE; BELTRAN-AGUEDO, REINEL

Santiago de Cuba, Cuba

Conferencia; International Conference of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, FIE’06; 2006

Universidad de Oriente, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba

In this work an approach to model quasi-stationary effects of perturbations on an underwater vehicle tugged by its umbilical cable is presented. The causes of perturbation are distributed loads on the cable and ROV caused by tidal flows. The model is based on the conceptualization of drag forces impacting on the cable that is buoyancy-neutral but inertial reactive, flexible and deformable. The forms of the loaded cable are similarly to catenaries, but in contrast to gravity-loaded cords, they are mathematically different because of the neutral buoyancy and horizontal drag loads. It was shown that is possible to identify univocally the cable force and its profile in real time in order to embed it in a control action law on the basis of knowledge of flow conditions and ROV position. Lab experiments are presented and numerical simulations illustrate the performance of the tracking control system.