Rapid Determination Method of Critical Motion Conditions of Underwater Towing System

The towing body is the main part of a towing profiler. It can realize waveform track movement and measure real-time multi-parameters of the ocean. Therefore, the period and amplitude of the preset trajectory determine measurement accuracy and range. To realize autonomous control of the towing profiler, it is important to determine the feasibility conditions of the preset trajectory. Based on the assumption of linearization of the tail swing angle and towing body attack angle, a dynamic model with tail swing control was established in this study by inverting the preset motion trajectory of the towing system and deriving the analytical expression of the tail swing angle. The theoretical results were in good agreement with the experimental data. Furthermore, the established model was used to determine the critical motion characteristics of the underwater towing system as well as the coordination relationship between the forward speed of the mother ship and the undulating motion of the towing body. The study verified that the Strouhal number can be considered as a condition for the realization of the preset trajectory, which is related to the speed of the mother ship as well as the amplitude and period of the preset trajectory and reflects the unsteady nature of motion. When the Strouhal number was less than 0.22, the trajectory could be reproduced autonomously by controlling the tail swing.