This class provides hydrodynamic behaviour for underwater vehicles It is shamelessly based off Brian Bingham's plugin for VRX. which in turn is based of Fossen's equations described in "Guidance and Control of Ocean Vehicles" [1]. The class should be used together with the buoyancy plugin to help simulate behaviour of maritime vehicles. Hydrodynamics refers to the behaviour of bodies in water. It includes forces like linear and quadratic drag, buoyancy (not provided by this plugin), etc. More...

#include <Hydrodynamics.hh>

Public Member Functions
	Hydrodynamics ()
	Constructor. More...

	~Hydrodynamics () override
	Destructor. More...

void	Configure (const Entity &_entity, const std::shared_ptr< const sdf::Element > &_sdf, EntityComponentManager &_ecm, EventManager &) override
	Documentation inherited. More...

void	PreUpdate (const UpdateInfo &_info, EntityComponentManager &_ecm) override
	Documentation inherited. More...

Public Member Functions inherited from System
	System ()=default
	Constructor. More...

virtual	~System ()=default
	Destructor. More...

Detailed Description

This class provides hydrodynamic behaviour for underwater vehicles It is shamelessly based off Brian Bingham's plugin for VRX. which in turn is based of Fossen's equations described in "Guidance and Control of Ocean Vehicles" [1]. The class should be used together with the buoyancy plugin to help simulate behaviour of maritime vehicles. Hydrodynamics refers to the behaviour of bodies in water. It includes forces like linear and quadratic drag, buoyancy (not provided by this plugin), etc.

System Parameters

The exact description of these parameters can be found on p. 37 of Fossen's book. They are used to calculate added mass, linear and quadratic drag and coriolis force.

<xDotU> - Added mass in x direction [kg]
<yDotV> - Added mass in y direction [kg]
<zDotW> - Added mass in z direction [kg]
<kDotP> - Added mass in roll direction [kgm^2]
<mDotQ> - Added mass in pitch direction [kgm^2]
<nDotR> - Added mass in yaw direction [kgm^2]
<xUU> - Stability derivative, 2nd order, x component [kg/m]
<xU> - Stability derivative, 1st order, x component [kg]
<yVV> - Stability derivative, 2nd order, y component [kg/m]
<yV> - Stability derivative, 1st order, y component [kg]
<zWW> - Stability derivative, 2nd order, z component [kg/m]
<zW> - Stability derivative, 1st order, z component [kg]
<kPP> - Stability derivative, 2nd order, roll component [kg/m^2]
<kP> - Stability derivative, 1st order, roll component [kg/m]
<mQQ> - Stability derivative, 2nd order, pitch component [kg/m^2]
<mQ> - Stability derivative, 1st order, pitch component [kg/m]
<nRR> - Stability derivative, 2nd order, yaw component [kg/m^2]
<nR> - Stability derivative, 1st order, yaw component [kg/m] Additionally the system also supports the following parameters:
<waterDensity> - The density of the fluid its moving in. Defaults to 998kgm^-3. [kgm^-3, deprecated]
<water_density> - The density of the fluid its moving in. Defaults to 998kgm^-3. [kgm^-3]
<link_name> - The link of the model that is being subject to hydrodynamic forces. [Required]
<namespace> - This allows the robot to have an individual namespace for current. This is useful when you have multiple vehicles in different locations and you wish to set the currents of each vehicle separately. If no namespace is given then the plugin listens on the /ocean_current topic for a Vector3d message. Otherwise it listens on /model/{namespace name}/ocean_current.[String, Optional]
<default_current> - A generic current. [vector3d m/s, optional, default = [0,0,0]m/s]

Example

An example configuration is provided in the examples folder. The example uses the LiftDrag plugin to apply steering controls. It also uses the thruster plugin to propel the craft and the buoyancy plugin for buoyant force. To run the example run.

ign gazebo auv_controls.sdf

To control the rudder of the craft run the following

ign topic -t /model/tethys/joint/vertical_fins_joint/0/cmd_pos

-m ignition.msgs.Double -p 'data: -0.17'

To apply a thrust you may run the following command

ign topic -t /model/tethys/joint/propeller_joint/cmd_pos

-m ignition.msgs.Double -p 'data: -31'

The vehicle should move in a circle.

Ocean Currents

When underwater, vehicles are often subject to ocean currents. The hydrodynamics plugin allows simulation of such currents. We can add a current simply by publishing the following:

ign topic -t /ocean_current -m ignition.msgs.Vector3d -p 'x: 1, y:0, z:0'

You should observe your vehicle slowly drift to the side.

Citations

[1] Fossen, Thor I. Guidance and Control of Ocean Vehicles. United Kingdom: Wiley, 1994.

Constructor & Destructor Documentation

◆ Hydrodynamics()

Hydrodynamics ( )

Constructor.

◆ ~Hydrodynamics()

~Hydrodynamics ( )

override

Destructor.

Member Function Documentation

◆ Configure()

void Configure	(	const Entity &	_entity,
		const std::shared_ptr< const sdf::Element > &	_sdf,
		EntityComponentManager &	_ecm,
		EventManager &
	)

overridevirtual

Documentation inherited.

Implements ISystemConfigure.

◆ PreUpdate()

void PreUpdate	(	const UpdateInfo &	_info,
		EntityComponentManager &	_ecm
	)