CFD based Autonomous Surveillance Vessel Design for Maritime Environments

Oceans cover about 70% of Earth's surface and it is difficult to keep them under continuous surveillance with ever increasing criminal activities. Conventional surveillance methods utilize manned vessels to patrol large sea areas, and due to repetitive-monotonous nature, the personnel involved can often make inevitable human errors due to fatigue. As an alternative, solar-charged battery-powered surface vessel that can autonomously navigate in maritime waters is proposed. Autonomous surveillance vessels are required to navigate in oceans for an extended time duration, requiring them to use much power in propulsion. To properly manage propulsion power, the vessel design must minimize the drag acting upon the vessel. In this work, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques are used to identify the most suitable type of vessel shape that can minimize the drag and maximize the lift and stability. According to the simulation results, conventional catamaran gondola vessel type gives better performance over others.