Analysis of the Dynamic System of Wave Glider with a Towed Body

Mobile observation platforms are widely used in oceanographic and marine resource exploration and other applications. Wave Glider is a mobile platform that can transform wave energy into locomotion power and overcome the bottleneck of low energy supply. Wave Glider has recently been applied to tow underwater sensors fulfilling observation tasks. In this paper, the dynamic system of Wave Glider with a towed body is studied by applying multibody mechanics, and the relevant motion conditions of the system are investigated. Dynamic models of Wave Glider with a towed body and tether are first developed individually and then integrated into a whole model. The numerical method is used to obtain the dynamic responses and assess performance of the towed body pulled by the submerged glider of Wave Glider. The effects of sea state, mass of the towed body, and length of the towed cable are investigated on the basis of simulation results. This work can be used for the design and analysis of Wave Glider-towed body systems.