Abstract:
Unmanned underwater vehicles are small submersible platforms, commonly used by
developed nations for military and commercial purposes. The powering of UUV is one of the
most important factors as it consumes a high proportion of the weight and space available in
a submersible platform. Approximately, 35% of weight and 50% of the total volume is
devoted to energy storage and powering of propulsion system. The emphasis of this research
is to find propeller with suitable diameter, no of blades at a location so to minimize the
powering requirements of DARPA SUBOFF UUV. Initially, coefficients of drag and
resistance was calculated using ITTC guidelines. Wake survey of the tail/stern of DARPA
SUBOFF UUV was carried out using COMSOL MULTIPHYSICS 5.6. Utilizing this
analysis 07 x different locations were marked for further analysis with 02 x different propeller
diameters and 02 x different propeller blade configurations. The analysis of these 28 x
combinations resulted in determination of a plane where minimum powering requirement has
arrived with suitable propeller diameter and optimum number of blades.
