Modeling the Dynamics of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) towing another AUV with a marine cable

In this paper, we propose a mechanism to model the dynamics of an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) towing another AUV of equivalent size using a marine cable. The multi-body system which consists of the vehicles and the rope is a coupled system. The towed and the towing vehicles’ masses are within the same order of magnitude and the forces from the towed vehicle cannot be assumed to be negligible. The AUV dynamics are modeled using the equations of motion of the vehicle while the rope is modeled with a finite element approach called the Lumped Mass Spring Damper method. The stability and performance of the model is assessed using unsteady maneuvers.