Browse Topic: Marine vehicles and equipment
Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs) operate in complex and uncertain environments, which require a suitable controller. While traditional PID controllers are widely used, they often have slow response speed and inadequate disturbance rejection, particularly under complex and uncertain conditions. To overcome these shortcomings, this paper introduces the DDPG-DLPID, an adaptive motion controller, including a Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (DDPG) reinforcement learning that can acquire the parameters of PID controllers. In this paper, we design two loops: the inner loop handles velocity regulation, and the outer loop handles position and attitude. By using DDPG, the system can efficiently adjust the PID parameters of both loops in real time, allowing it to effectively adapt to environmental changes and achieve optimized requirements. To evaluate the controller, we design the following scenarios, including straight-line and complex path-following tasks. Compared with single-loop PID and dual-loop PID controllers, the proposed DDPGDLPID approach achieves faster response and higher tracking accuracy, while substantially reducing tracking errors under interference conditions. Physical experiments under three conditions-straight-line voyage, attitude maintaining, and depth control-were further carried out to validate the strategy’s real-world applicability. Experimental data confirm that DDPG-DLPID has better performance when compared with both traditional PID and dual-loop PID controllers across all test scenarios.
This study investigates the governing characteristics of ice resistance encountered by icebreakers operating in multi-year ice regions, with particular emphasis on the effects of bow truncation length, vessel speed, and ice thickness. A numerical simulation framework was developed using the finite element platform LS-PrePost to reproduce ice bending, failure, and ship–ice interaction throughout the icebreaking process. The numerical predictions were subsequently validated against physical model test data. The results indicate that ice resistance exhibits an increasing trend as the bow truncation length, navigation speed, and ice thickness increase. The ice resistance of different bow truncation lengths in the multi-year ice area is different. By truncating the model ship at different positions from the bow and analyzing the ratio of the ice resistance of the truncated models to that of the full-scale model, researchers can better understand the effects of bow size. This can provide a theoretical basis for conducting ice resistance tests with truncated model ships in a limited-scale ice water tank, and has certain practical value for the design and optimization of the icebreaker’s hull lines.
After an investigation into a fruit and vegetable storage compartment on a ship, this paper proposes a method for creating different temperature zones within a single storage unit. To perform this approach, a top perforated plate air supply system should be implemented, and storage panels should act as partitions to make temperature control more accurate in different zones within the same compartment. This method ensures that fruits and vegetables can be stored for the best flavor at suitable temperatures, enabling fewer separate storage units on the ship. According to the experimental results, this solution can preserve various types of fruits and vegetables under different conditions during long trips, deal with the challenge of chilling or freezing injury due to mixed storage, and save the cold storage capacity on the ship. The proposed method has significant value in engineering applications.
Multiphase compressible flow problems are widespread in aviation, aerospace, transportation, military, and industrial fields, for instance, in underwater explosion bubble dynamics, fuel injection for hypersonic vehicles, liquid sloshing in propellant tanks, and supercavitating underwater vehicles. This paper proposes an improved THINC (Tangent of Hyperbola for Interface Capturing) method for multiphase flow simulations, based on a selective reconstruction strategy for the dominant material. The core of the strategy is to apply the THINC reconstruction exclusively to the material with the largest volume fraction within a multiphase mixed cell, which numerically governs the local interface evolution. The volume fractions of non-dominant materials are then obtained through a proportional distribution that inherently ensures the summation (Σαk = 1) and boundedness (0 ≤ αk> ≤ 1) constraints are met without explicit corrections. This approach reduces the number of THINC reconstructions for each time step in a multiphase mixed cell from Nm (the number of materials) to one, significantly simplifying the algorithm and lowering computational cost. It thereby avoids the error accumulation and complex renormalization procedures associated with conventional schemes that reconstruct all materials. While strictly maintaining volume fraction conservation, the proposed method preserves interface sharpness through the underlying THINC framework. The method is implemented in a diffuse-interface, multiphase Eulerian framework and validated with a series of challenging benchmarks, including shock-helium bubble interaction, triple-point problem, gas impact, and the more complex modified gas impact. Numerical results show that, compared with conventional multiphase THINC approaches that reconstruct every material, the proposed scheme can reduce CPU time by about 40.0% without compromising the accuracy of key physical quantities.
A boat can sink in under a minute, stranding passengers miles from land and leaving them virtually invisible amid the vast expanse of water. Survival can depend on emergency supplies such as a personal locator beacon (PLB) and emergency position-indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) to alert search and rescue teams. When a competitive fishing trip went wrong for Easton Barrett and his friends 40 miles off the Gulf Coast of Mississippi in 2024, a PLB helped the U.S. Coast Guard rescue the people clinging to coolers and treading water after being head-butted by sharks.
Master Bond EP40 is a two-part, room temperature curing epoxy for bonding, sealing, coating, and encapsulating. EP40 bonds well to a variety of substrates, including naval steel, the primary structural metal used in the shipbuilding industry. Master Bond Inc., Hackensack, NJ To reduce its environmental impact and pollution, the shipping industry is investigating methods to construct more lightweight ships. One potential method is using adhesive bonding techniques to replace traditional welding and riveted joints on ships to fabricate lighter ships with smaller carbon footprints. However, adhesives age and deteriorate when exposed to moisture, high temperatures, and ultraviolet light. This makes it necessary to understand how they age in maritime environments to determine whether they can truly replace traditional welding techniques. To this end, researchers at Centro de Investigación en Tecnologías Navales e Industriales (CITENI) and Centro de Investigación TIC (CITIC) developed a new method for studying adhesive aging on naval steel substrates. Master Bond EP40 was selected as the test adhesive for this method due to its strong performance and suitability for marine conditions. By using EP40, the team ensured that the observed adhesive bonding behavior would reflect a high-quality epoxy's potential in ship structures. The goal was to evaluate how EP40 bonds to naval steel and how the bulk epoxy material would behave in seawater to provide insights into the construction of lighter ships using this approach.
Astrolight recently demonstrated undetectable, unjammable, and high-bandwidth laser-based ship-to-ship communication with its POLARIS terminal during REPMUS'25, NATO's largest unmanned maritime exercise. During the Robotic Experimentation and Prototyping using Maritime Uncrewed Systems (REPMUS) /Dynamic Messenger mission, hosted by the Portuguese Navy, POLARIS laser terminals maintained a stable, jam-proof horizon-limited laser-based link between two vessels: NRP Dom Francisco de Almeida and NRP Dom Carlos I. During testing, the link wasn't detected by a single sensor of other participating ships, drones, and land assets.
Researchers have taken inspiration from nature to create a robotic wing that can sense and adapt to changes in water to deliver unparalleled stability.
The following list consists of hose data provided as of December 2025 and is for convenience in determining acceptability of nonmetallic flexible hose assemblies intended for usage under 46 CFR Part 56.60-25. Where the maximum allowable working pressure (MAWP) or type of fitting is not specified, use the manufacturer’s recommended MAWP or type of fitting. This list has been compiled by SAE staff from information provided by the manufacturers whose product listings appear in this document. Manufacturers wishing to list their products in this document shall: a Successfully test their hose to the requirements of SAE J1942, Table 1. b Submit a letter of certification to the SAE J1942 test requirements for each specific type of hose tested (see sample table, Table 1) along with the test results. All sizes should be included in the same letter, which must also include all of the information necessary to make an SAE J1942-1 listing. c SAE will review the letter and may, at their discretion, request to see further test results. A copy of the submittal letter marked “Accepted for Listing” will be returned to the applicant upon approval. d The cutoff date for inclusion of a hose listing in the annual SAE Handbook is September 30 of the preceding year. However, listed hoses may be used on vessels as soon as the “Accepted for Listing” letter is issued by SAE.
Producing 3D models of cooling water passages of outboard motors, and calculating distribution of electric potential on the water passage surfaces using BEM, we have developed the new method for simulation of electric potential distribution. The outboard motor is a propulsion system attached to the transom of the boat with steering function. As the water around the boat is drawn in for cooling of the engine, the engine parts are susceptible to severe corrosion. As a means to help prevent corrosion, a part referred to as the anode metal, which has a lower natural potential, is provided. Such a method is called the sacrifice protection because the anode metal corrodes before the engine parts due to the difference of electric potential. Since anti-corrosion currents occur preferentially to areas close to the anode metal, the anode metal is required to be located at the most effective place for corrosion protection. However, there are certain restrictions in the layout of anode metal from the engine configuration and parts layout. In addition to it, the identification of potential distribution requires measurements from the actual outboard motor. That was why it was challenging to realize a design having an ideal potential distribution. To deal with the issue, we conducted simulation of secondary current distribution in order to help predict potential distribution at the design stage. Taking actual measurements of polarization curves of outboard motor parts in the environment that matched the actual water passages and where the flow velocity existed, the measured data was uploaded as the simulation parameter. The calculated data of the potential distribution simulation are very close to the actual measurement. With the potential distribution simulation method established, it is now possible to lay out necessary number of anode metals at appropriate locations for corrosion prevention.
Type IV composite pressure (CP) vessels composed of a plastic liner and composite layers require special design attention to the dome region. The cylindrical portion of the composite cylinder is wrapped with composite layers consisting of the 900 hoop layers and low-angle helical layers, whereas the dome surface carries helical layers only. The winding angle of the helical layers being a constant over the cylindrical portion starts to vary from the cylinder-dome junction toward the boss at the top continuously. Along with the winding angle, the composite thickness also varies continuously resulting in a maximum thickness at the top crown region. The complete analysis and layer-wise stress prediction of Type IV composite cylinders for service pressures up to 70 MPa was analyzed by the Classical Lamination theory (CLT)-based MATLAB program. The MATLAB program developed in this work for the dome initially performs the dome profile generation through the numerical integration of the dome profile differential equations involving meridional and circumferential radii. A CLT formulation is successfully adopted in this work for predicting the stresses and strains accounting for the winding angle and composite thickness variations along the dome profile. A novel approach is implemented in ANSYS for accommodating the varying winding angle and composite thickness over the dome by invoking a lookup table feature in the ANSYS ACP Workbench module. The varying winding angles and composite thickness determined through the CLT MATLAB program are linked to ANSYS through the lookup table. This ensures a seamless data transfer and improves solution accuracy.
In this paper, we develop a new feature-based algorithm using stereo cameras to estimate stochastic ship-deck motion at high sea states. Unlike our previous algorithms, this algorithm is able to estimate the motion of arbitrary ship structures without prior information on the ship's visual appearance or geometry. The algorithm requires an initial pose and suffers from drift over time, which was resolved by fusing it with our previous 2D feature-based vision algorithm. The combined vision algorithm is validated using a simulated ship featuring 3D ship structures and 2D flight deck markings representative of a DDG-51 ship. The results indicate that the algorithm can accurately estimate the pose of a simulated ship undergoing Sea-State 6 motion. The vision algorithm was further validated in a simple free-flight test.
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