Simple drag prediction strategies for an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle ’ s hull shape

The range of an AUV is dictated by its finite energy source and minimising the energy consumption is required to maximise its endurance. One option to extend the endurance is by obtaining the optimum hydrodynamic hull shape with balancing the trade-off between computational cost and fluid dynamic fidelity. An AUV hull form has been optimised to obtain low resistance hull. Hydrodynamic optimisation of hull form has been carried out by employing five parametric geometry models with a streamlined constraint. Three Genetic Algorithm optimisation procedures are applied by three simple drag predictions which are based on the potential flow method. The results highlight the effectiveness of considering the proposed hull shape optimisation procedure for the early stage of AUV hull design. © Published by Elsevier Ltd.