This paper presents a constructive design of new controllers that force underactuated ships under constant or slow time-varying sea loads to asymptotically track a parameterized reference path, that guarantees the distance from the ship to the reference path always be within a specified value. The control design is based on a global exponential disturbance observer, a transformation of the ship dynamics to an almost spherical form, an interpretation of the tracking errors in an earth-fixed frame, an introduction of dynamic variables to compensate for relaxation of the reference path generation, p-times differentiable step functions, and backstepping and Lyapunov’s direct methods. The effectiveness of the proposed results is illustrated through simulations.

In this paper we study the problem of generation of surface waves produced due to a) rolling of the plate and b) presence of a line source in front of a fixed vertical plate. The amplitudes of radiated waves at large distance from the plate, in both cases, are obtained by a suitable application of Green’s integral theorem. These are then studied graphically for various values of the ice cover parameter.

In this paper we have investigated the reflection and the transmission of a system of two symmetric circular-arc-shaped thin porous plates submerged in deep water within the context of linear theory. The hypersingular integral equation technique has been used to analyze the problem mathematically. The integral equations are formulated by applying Green’s integral theorem to the fundamental potential function and the scattered potential function into a suitable fluid region, and then using the boundary condition on the porous plate surface. These are solved approximately using an expansion-cum-collocation method where the behaviour of the potential functions at the tips of the plates have been used. This method ultimately produces a very good numerical approximation for the reflection and the transmission coefficients and hydrodynamic force components. The numerical results are depicted graphically against the wave number for a variety of layouts of the arc. Some results are compared with known results for similar configurations of dual rigid plate systems available in the literature with good agreement.

Groins are employed to prevent nearshore areas from erosion and to control the direction of flow. However, the groin structure and its associated flow characteristics are the main causes of local erosion. In this study, we investigate the flow patterns around refractive and right-angle groins. In particular, we analytically compare the flow characteristics around a refractive groin and study the degree of accuracy that can be achieved by using a right-angle groin of various projected lengths. To compare the flow characteristics, we replaced the right-angle groin with an approximation of a refractive groin. This replacement had the least effect on the maximum velocity of flow in the channel. Moreover, we investigated the distribution of the density variables of temperature and salinity, and their effects on the flow characteristics around the right-angle groin. A comparison of the flow analysis results in baroclinic and barotropic conditions reveals that the flow characteristic values are very similar for both the refractive and right-angle groins. The geometry of the groin, i.e., right-angle or refractive, has little effect on the maximum speed to relative average speed. Apart from the angular separation, the arm length of the groin in downstream refractive groins has less effect on other flow characteristics than do upstream refractive groins. We also correlated a number of non-dimensional variables with respect to various flow characteristics and groin geometry. These comparisons indicate that the correlation between the thalweg height and width of the channel and groin arm’s length to projection length have been approximated using linear and nonlinear formulas regardless of inner velocity in the subcritical flow.

A method of reliability analysis based on a direct strength calculation employing the von Mises stress failure criterion is presented here. The short term strain distributions of ship hull structural components are identified through the statistical analysis of the wave-induced strain history and the long term distributions by the weighted summation of the short term strain distributions. The wave-induced long term strain distribution is combined with the still water strain. The extreme strain distribution of the response strain is obtained by statistical analysis of the combined strains. The limit state function of the reliability analysis is based on the von Mises stress failure criterion, including the related uncertainties due to the quality of the material and model uncertainty. The reliability index is calculated using FORM and sensitivity analysis of each variable that has effects on the reliability is also discussed.

Optimization analysis and computational fluid dynamics (CFDs) have been applied simultaneously, in which a parametric model plays an important role in finding the optimal solution. However, it is difficult to create a parametric model for a complex shape with irregular curves, such as a submarine hull form. In this study, the cubic Bezier curve and curve-plane intersection method are used to generate a solid model of a parametric submarine hull form taking three input parameters into account: nose radius, tail radius, and length-height hull ratio (L/H). Application program interface (API) scripting is also used to write code in the ANSYS DesignModeler. The results show that the submarine shape can be generated with some variation of the input parameters. An example is given that shows how the proposed method can be applied successfully to a hull resistance optimization case. The parametric design of the middle submarine type was chosen to be modified. First, the original submarine model was analyzed, in advance, using CFD. Then, using the response surface graph, some candidate optimal designs with a minimum hull resistance coefficient were obtained. Further, the optimization method in goal-driven optimization (GDO) was implemented to find the submarine hull form with the minimum hull resistance coefficient (C_t). The minimum C_t was obtained. The calculated difference in C_t values between the initial submarine and the optimum submarine is around 0.26%, with the C_t of the initial submarine and the optimum submarine being 0.001 508 26 and 0.001 504 29, respectively. The results show that the optimum submarine hull form shows a higher nose radius (r_n) and higher L/H than those of the initial submarine shape, while the radius of the tail (r_t) is smaller than that of the initial shape.

The inclining experiment is the only regulatory tool to assess ship stability. This experiment is a time consuming process for both real-life tests and ship model experiments. The difficulty is mainly due to a bias in the measurement of heel angle. Nowadays, digital inclinometers are available, but they are expensive. In this study, the use of a smartphone application is presented for ship inclination and rolling-period tests. The idea consists of using accelerometer and gyroscope sensors built into the current smartphones for the measurements. Therefore, some experiments are carried out on an example trawler model to exhibit the uses and advantages of this method. The obtained results are in good agreement with those provided from the pendulum method and natural roll-period test. This application is new, easy, and more accurately assesses metacentric height during the inclining and rolling-period tests.

The main goal of this paper is to investigate sound scattering from the sea surface, by Kuo’s small perturbation method (SPM), in the Persian Gulf’s environmental conditions. Accordingly, the SPM method is reviewed, then it is demonstrated how it can accurately model sound scattering from the sea surface. Since in Kuo’s approach, the effects of surface roughness and sub-surface bubble plumes on incident sounds can be studied separately, it is possible to investigate the importance of each mechanism in various scattering regimes. To conduct this study, wind and wave information reported by Arzanah station as well as some numerical atmospheric models for the Persian Gulf are presented and applied to examine sound scattering from the sea surface in the Persian Gulf region. Plots of scattering strength by Kuo’s SPM method versus grazing angle for various frequencies, wave heights, and wind speeds are presented. The calculated scattering strength by the SPM method for various frequencies and wind speeds are compared against the results of critical sea tests 7 (CST-7). The favorable agreement achieved for sound scattering in the Persian Gulf region is indicative of the fact that the SPM method can quite accurately model and predict sound scattering from the sea surface.

Underwater terrain-aided navigation is used to complement the traditional inertial navigation employed by autonomous underwater vehicles during lengthy missions. It can provide fixed estimations by matching real-time depth data with a digital terrain map. This study presents the concept of using image processing techniques in the underwater terrain matching process. A traditional gray-scale histogram of an image is enriched by incorporation with spatial information in pixels. Edge corner pixels are then defined and used to construct an edge corner histogram, which employs as a template to scan the digital terrain map and estimate the fixes of the vehicle by searching the correlation peak. Simulations are performed to investigate the robustness of the proposed method, particularly in relation to its sensitivity to background noise, the scale of real-time images, and the travel direction of the vehicle. At an image resolution of 1 m²/pixel, the accuracy of localization is more than 10 meters.

Underwater acoustic channels pose a great difficulty for the development of high speed communication due to highly limited band-width as well as hostile multipath interference. Enlightened by rapid progress of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technologies in wireless communication scenarios, MIMO systems offer a potential solution by enabling multiple spatially parallel communication channels to improve communication performance as well as capacity. For MIMO acoustic communications, deep sea channels offer substantial spatial diversity among multiple channels that can be exploited to address simultaneous multipath and co-channel interference. At the same time, there are increasing requirements for high speed underwater communication in very shallow water area (for example, a depth less than 10 m). In this paper, a space-time multichannel adaptive receiver consisting of multiple decision feedback equalizers (DFE) is adopted as the receiver for a very shallow water MIMO acoustic communication system. The performance of multichannel DFE receivers with relatively small number of receiving elements are analyzed and compared with that of the multichannel time reversal receiver to evaluate the impact of limited spatial diversity on multi-channel equalization and time reversal processing. The results of sea trials in a very shallow water channel are presented to demonstrate the feasibility of very shallow water MIMO acoustic communication.

One of the new methods for powering low-power electronic devices at sea is a wave energy harvesting system. In this method, piezoelectric material is employed to convert the mechanical energy of sea waves into electrical energy. The advantage of this method is based on avoiding a battery charging system. Studies have been done on energy harvesting from sea waves, however, considering energy harvesting with random JONSWAP wave theory, then determining the optimum values of energy harvested is new. This paper does that by implementing the JONSWAP wave model, calculating produced power, and realistically showing that output power is decreased in comparison with the more simple Airy wave model. In addition, parameters of the energy harvester system are optimized using a simulated annealing algorithm, yielding increased produced power.

Power generation is one of the most essential functions of any plant for continuous functioning without any interruption. A marine power plant (MPP) is the same section. In the present paper, the authors have tried to find the various reliability characteristics of an MPP. A marine power plant which is a composition of two generators and in which one of them is located at the stern and another at the bow, both associated to the main switchboard (MSB). The distribution switchboards (DSB) receive power from the MSB through cables and their respective junctions. Given that arrangement, a working based transition state diagram has been generated. With the help of the Markov process, a number of intro-differential equations are formed and solved by Laplace transform. Various reliability characteristics are calculated and discussed with the help of graphs.

The present work focused on corrosion inhibition of AA6063 type Al-Mg-Si alloy in sodium chloride (NaCl) solution with a silicon carbide inhibitor, using the potentiodynamic electrochemical method. The aluminium alloy surface morphology was examined, in the as-received and as-corroded in the un-inhibited state, with scanning electron microscopy equipped with energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). The results obtained via linear polarization indicated a high corrosion potential for the unprotected as-received alloy. Equally, inhibition efficiency as high as 98.82% at 10.0 g/v silicon carbide addition was obtained with increased polarization resistance (R_p), while the current density reduced significantly for inhibited samples compared to the un-inhibited aluminium alloy. The adsorption mechanism of the inhibitor aluminium alloy follows the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. This shows that the corrosion rate of aluminium alloy with silicon carbide in NaCl environment decreased significantly with addition of the inhibitor.