Automated helicopter hover and recovery system for operations at sea. The small size and simplicity of the integrated system outlined in this project will significantly improve the effectiveness of maritime surveillance for homeland security whilst enabling substantially lower operational costs. The proposal aims to develop control and sensing techniques, enabling small rotary wing unmanned air-vehicles (UAVs) weighing less than 100 kgs to operate from small-size vessels. This will be achieved ....Automated helicopter hover and recovery system for operations at sea. The small size and simplicity of the integrated system outlined in this project will significantly improve the effectiveness of maritime surveillance for homeland security whilst enabling substantially lower operational costs. The proposal aims to develop control and sensing techniques, enabling small rotary wing unmanned air-vehicles (UAVs) weighing less than 100 kgs to operate from small-size vessels. This will be achieved by resolving the current lack of integration between ship motion and the unmanned vehicle guidance systems. The proposed research will make substantial contributions in areas of ship motion prediction and sensing and hover control of tethered and non-tethered small helicopters.
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Optimal nose shaping for delayed boundary-layer separation and transition in axisymmetric flow. The aim of this project is to design a smooth nose for a body of revolution placed in axisymmetric flow of a viscous fluid at high Reynolds number, such that the boundary layer on the body remains unseparated. This can always be done with a sufficiently long nose, but our objective here is to minimise the necessary nose length. Outer potential flows will be provided via ring sources. The potential flo ....Optimal nose shaping for delayed boundary-layer separation and transition in axisymmetric flow. The aim of this project is to design a smooth nose for a body of revolution placed in axisymmetric flow of a viscous fluid at high Reynolds number, such that the boundary layer on the body remains unseparated. This can always be done with a sufficiently long nose, but our objective here is to minimise the necessary nose length. Outer potential flows will be provided via ring sources. The potential flows will be used to determine inner boundary layer solutions. Transition-to-turbulence will be considered by undertaking 2D and 3D stability computations.Read moreRead less
Elucidating the inertial force mechanisms of turbulence. The turbulent flow of fluids (for example, air, water) near a solid surface is of enormous technological importance. The proposed research will advance engineering prediction and control capabilities by revealing how the unsteady eddying motions produce the apparent inertial force that distinguishes turbulent flows from their laminar counterparts.
Surface roughness and its effects on wall-bounded turbulence. Examples in engineering where turbulence is important are: wind tunnel model testing, numerical prediction of turbulent skin friction drag over an aircraft wing, turbulent forces and acoustic field around a submarine or a road vehicle, and the dispersion of pollutants in the atmosphere. Turbulence may also be beneficial, for example, in improving engine combustion and decreasing pollutant emissions. Hence this study will have national ....Surface roughness and its effects on wall-bounded turbulence. Examples in engineering where turbulence is important are: wind tunnel model testing, numerical prediction of turbulent skin friction drag over an aircraft wing, turbulent forces and acoustic field around a submarine or a road vehicle, and the dispersion of pollutants in the atmosphere. Turbulence may also be beneficial, for example, in improving engine combustion and decreasing pollutant emissions. Hence this study will have national benefits in many scientific fields, for example, in fuel savings (economy and energy ), stability of road vehicles (safety and health), noise generation and acoustic signatures of submarines (transforming defence technology and safeguarding Australia).Read moreRead less
DEVELOPMENT OF NEW NONLINEAR CONTROLLERS FOR TRAJECTORY TRACKING AND PATH-FOLLOWING OF UNDERACTUATED OCEAN VEHICLES. Trajectory tracking control and path-following of underactuated ocean vehicles are not only of theoretical challenging but also important practice. This project is firstly to develop methodologies to design full-state feedback controllers to force the underactuated ocean vehicles including surface ships and underwater vehicles with off-diagonal terms in their system matrices to tr ....DEVELOPMENT OF NEW NONLINEAR CONTROLLERS FOR TRAJECTORY TRACKING AND PATH-FOLLOWING OF UNDERACTUATED OCEAN VEHICLES. Trajectory tracking control and path-following of underactuated ocean vehicles are not only of theoretical challenging but also important practice. This project is firstly to develop methodologies to design full-state feedback controllers to force the underactuated ocean vehicles including surface ships and underwater vehicles with off-diagonal terms in their system matrices to track reference trajectories generated by virtual vehicles, and to follow a predefined path with a desired forward speed. Secondly, we develop methods to design observers to estimate the unmeasured states (velocities) of the vehicles and incorporate with the full-state feedback controllers to have output-feedback observer-based controllers. Lastly, the proposed control design methods are extended to a certain class of underactuated mechanical systems.Read moreRead less
Structure, Dynamics and Control of Wall-Bounded Turbulence. This research has immense impact in engineering and environmental science including aeronautical, mechanical, biomedical engineering, and meteorological science. The energy savings with reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions resulting from this research and economic benefits will impact directly on global climate change and a sustainable urban environment in Australia. This research will deliver technological advances in complex fl ....Structure, Dynamics and Control of Wall-Bounded Turbulence. This research has immense impact in engineering and environmental science including aeronautical, mechanical, biomedical engineering, and meteorological science. The energy savings with reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions resulting from this research and economic benefits will impact directly on global climate change and a sustainable urban environment in Australia. This research will deliver technological advances in complex fluid dynamics and instrumentation, in addition to new and exciting training opportunities for future generations of researchers and engineers. This project will secure Australian science and engineering as world leaders in the crucial area of Fluid Dynamics that influences our everyday lives.
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Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0239920
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$195,000.00
Summary
Control of free/dissolved gas content in a cavitation tunnel. The proposed equipment is for increased productivity and enhancing research capability of the Tom Fink Cavitation Tunnel located at the Australian Maritime College.
The cavitation tunnel is used for investigating flows about ships and underwater bodies.
The proposed equipment permits the rapid control of gas content in the tunnel water either dissolved or free as bubbles which together control the nature of cavitation and other ....Control of free/dissolved gas content in a cavitation tunnel. The proposed equipment is for increased productivity and enhancing research capability of the Tom Fink Cavitation Tunnel located at the Australian Maritime College.
The cavitation tunnel is used for investigating flows about ships and underwater bodies.
The proposed equipment permits the rapid control of gas content in the tunnel water either dissolved or free as bubbles which together control the nature of cavitation and other two phase flows.
The equipment will significant enhance existing research programs in support of the high speed craft and defence sectors of the maritime industry both nationally and internationally.Read moreRead less
Stochastic Sensor Scheduling in Statistical Signal Processing. In several statistical signal processing applications, due to computational or communication constraints, at each time instant one can use only a few out of several possible noisy (stochastic) sensors. The stochastic sensor scheduling problem deals with how to dynamically choose which group of sensors to pick at each time instant. This project involves research in sensor scheduling for widely used stochastic dynamical systems such as ....Stochastic Sensor Scheduling in Statistical Signal Processing. In several statistical signal processing applications, due to computational or communication constraints, at each time instant one can use only a few out of several possible noisy (stochastic) sensors. The stochastic sensor scheduling problem deals with how to dynamically choose which group of sensors to pick at each time instant. This project involves research in sensor scheduling for widely used stochastic dynamical systems such as Hidden Markov Models and Jump Markov Linear Systems. It focuses on the design and analysis of stochastic control algorithms such as dynamic programming and simulation based randomized methods. The research will lead to an integrated theory incorporating stochastic control, statistical signal processing and combinatorial optimization. We will also apply the resulting techniques to tracking maneuvering targets given noisy observations.Read moreRead less
Deterioration of structural integrity of ageing ships and marine platforms. Deterioration of structural integrity of ageing ships and marine platforms. This project will research the deterioration of structural integrity and remaining life of marine assets such as ships and offshore energy facilities, by integrating structural response analysis methods with aged-structure assessment techniques. Maritime assets exposed to ocean conditions suffer from time dependent phenomena, which reduce structu ....Deterioration of structural integrity of ageing ships and marine platforms. Deterioration of structural integrity of ageing ships and marine platforms. This project will research the deterioration of structural integrity and remaining life of marine assets such as ships and offshore energy facilities, by integrating structural response analysis methods with aged-structure assessment techniques. Maritime assets exposed to ocean conditions suffer from time dependent phenomena, which reduce structural capability, affect safety and could have catastrophic environmental and economic consequences. Making assets available and affordably safe is a problem for operators. The key to prolonging asset life is in understanding the interrelationships over time between the asset’s structural condition and its use. Anticipated outcomes are superior safety, expected lifetime and economic benefits of maritime assets.Read moreRead less
ACTIVE CONTROL OF SURFACE OCEAN SHIPS. This research is to design nonlinear robust adaptive control systems using active actuators (flaps, fins and rudders) for course keeping and path tracking of surface ocean ships, which are inherently nonlinear and with uncertainties. The outcome of the research will lead to the development of non-linear control strategies, which result in simple-to-implement and effective controllers. These controllers are robust to the environmental disturbances and uncert ....ACTIVE CONTROL OF SURFACE OCEAN SHIPS. This research is to design nonlinear robust adaptive control systems using active actuators (flaps, fins and rudders) for course keeping and path tracking of surface ocean ships, which are inherently nonlinear and with uncertainties. The outcome of the research will lead to the development of non-linear control strategies, which result in simple-to-implement and effective controllers. These controllers are robust to the environmental disturbances and uncertainties, adapt to unknown parameters of the ship and actuators. Only a few control gains are required to be tuned. The success of this project will significantly increase the international competiveness of Australian shipbuilding industry.Read moreRead less