Autonomous underwater vehicles--Design and construction

In this thesis, feasibility of a concept for launch and recovery of the Remus AUV from WAM-V USV is investigated. A modular recovery system which can be added to the WAM-V payload tray was designed, and based on a review of previous literature a CONOPS was developed for the launch and recovery process. The first phase of the CONOPS, which pertains to the position of the REMUS initially on the free surface prior to sling engagement is simulated using ANSYS AQWA. Preprocessing for the simulation involved simplification of the model in ANSYS SpaceClaim to achieve a proper mesh as well as theoretical calculations of the input parameters for wave environment and point masses etc. The simulation was evaluated by taking into consideration two wave environment scenarios: beam sea’s (-90 degrees) and head seas (0 degrees). The wave environment was based on a linear frequency range for the waves which considered wavelengths that correspond to half and double the length of the WAM-V 16’. The significance of the simulation is characterized through identifying the ideal direction and wave frequency range for recovery based on the RAOs of the two vehicles.