Novel Hybrid Aquatic–Aerial Vehicle to Survey in High Sea States: Initial Flow Dynamics on Dive and Breach
Few studies have examined Hybrid Aquatic–Aerial Vehicles (HAAVs), autonomous vehicles designed to operate in both air and water, especially those that are aircraft-launched and recovered, with a variable-sweep design to free dive into a body of water and breach under buoyant and propulsive force to...
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MDPI AG
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Journal of Marine Science and Engineering |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/13/7/1283 |
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| author | Matthew J. Ericksen Keith F. Joiner Nicholas J. Lawson Andrew Truslove Georgia Warren Jisheng Zhao Ahmed Swidan |
| author_facet | Matthew J. Ericksen Keith F. Joiner Nicholas J. Lawson Andrew Truslove Georgia Warren Jisheng Zhao Ahmed Swidan |
| author_sort | Matthew J. Ericksen |
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| description | Few studies have examined Hybrid Aquatic–Aerial Vehicles (HAAVs), autonomous vehicles designed to operate in both air and water, especially those that are aircraft-launched and recovered, with a variable-sweep design to free dive into a body of water and breach under buoyant and propulsive force to re-achieve flight. The novel design research examines the viability of a recoverable sonar-search child aircraft for maritime patrol, one which can overcome the prohibitive sea state limitations of all current HAAV designs in the research literature. This paper reports on the analysis from computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations of such an HAAV diving into static seawater at low speeds due to the reverse thrust of two retractable electric-ducted fans (EDFs) and its subsequent breach back into flight initially using a fast buoyancy engine developed for deep-sea research vessels. The HAAV model entered the water column at speeds around 10 ms<sup>−1</sup> and exited at 5 ms<sup>−1</sup> under various buoyancy cases, normal to the surface. Results revealed that impact force magnitudes varied with entry speed and were more acute according to vehicle mass, while a sufficient portion of the fuselage was able to clear typical wave heights during its breach for its EDF propulsors and wings to protract unhindered. Examining the medium transition dynamics of such a novel HAAV has provided insight into the structural, propulsive, buoyancy, and control requirements for future conceptual design iterations. Research is now focused on validating these unperturbed CFD dive and breach cases with pool experiments before then parametrically and numerically examining the effects of realistic ocean sea states. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-1770d22e9bc74e6aa92bce95db9335e2 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2077-1312 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Marine Science and Engineering |
| spelling | doaj-art-1770d22e9bc74e6aa92bce95db9335e22025-08-20T03:08:01ZengMDPI AGJournal of Marine Science and Engineering2077-13122025-06-01137128310.3390/jmse13071283Novel Hybrid Aquatic–Aerial Vehicle to Survey in High Sea States: Initial Flow Dynamics on Dive and BreachMatthew J. Ericksen0Keith F. Joiner1Nicholas J. Lawson2Andrew Truslove3Georgia Warren4Jisheng Zhao5Ahmed Swidan6School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering (AMME), The University of Sydney, Mechanical Engineering Building J07, Sydney, NSW 2006, AustraliaSchool of Engineering and Technology, University of New South Wales, Australian Defence Force Academy Campus, Northcott Drive, Canberra, ACT 2612, AustraliaSchool of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering (AMME), The University of Sydney, Mechanical Engineering Building J07, Sydney, NSW 2006, AustraliaSchool of Engineering and Technology, University of New South Wales, Australian Defence Force Academy Campus, Northcott Drive, Canberra, ACT 2612, AustraliaSchool of Engineering and Technology, University of New South Wales, Australian Defence Force Academy Campus, Northcott Drive, Canberra, ACT 2612, AustraliaSchool of Engineering and Technology, University of New South Wales, Australian Defence Force Academy Campus, Northcott Drive, Canberra, ACT 2612, AustraliaSchool of Engineering and Technology, University of New South Wales, Australian Defence Force Academy Campus, Northcott Drive, Canberra, ACT 2612, AustraliaFew studies have examined Hybrid Aquatic–Aerial Vehicles (HAAVs), autonomous vehicles designed to operate in both air and water, especially those that are aircraft-launched and recovered, with a variable-sweep design to free dive into a body of water and breach under buoyant and propulsive force to re-achieve flight. The novel design research examines the viability of a recoverable sonar-search child aircraft for maritime patrol, one which can overcome the prohibitive sea state limitations of all current HAAV designs in the research literature. This paper reports on the analysis from computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations of such an HAAV diving into static seawater at low speeds due to the reverse thrust of two retractable electric-ducted fans (EDFs) and its subsequent breach back into flight initially using a fast buoyancy engine developed for deep-sea research vessels. The HAAV model entered the water column at speeds around 10 ms<sup>−1</sup> and exited at 5 ms<sup>−1</sup> under various buoyancy cases, normal to the surface. Results revealed that impact force magnitudes varied with entry speed and were more acute according to vehicle mass, while a sufficient portion of the fuselage was able to clear typical wave heights during its breach for its EDF propulsors and wings to protract unhindered. Examining the medium transition dynamics of such a novel HAAV has provided insight into the structural, propulsive, buoyancy, and control requirements for future conceptual design iterations. Research is now focused on validating these unperturbed CFD dive and breach cases with pool experiments before then parametrically and numerically examining the effects of realistic ocean sea states.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/13/7/1283hybrid aquatic–aerial vehicle (HAAV)uncrewed underwater vehicle (UUV)uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV)computational fluid dynamicselectric propulsionlow observability |
| spellingShingle | Matthew J. Ericksen Keith F. Joiner Nicholas J. Lawson Andrew Truslove Georgia Warren Jisheng Zhao Ahmed Swidan Novel Hybrid Aquatic–Aerial Vehicle to Survey in High Sea States: Initial Flow Dynamics on Dive and Breach Journal of Marine Science and Engineering hybrid aquatic–aerial vehicle (HAAV) uncrewed underwater vehicle (UUV) uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) computational fluid dynamics electric propulsion low observability |
| title | Novel Hybrid Aquatic–Aerial Vehicle to Survey in High Sea States: Initial Flow Dynamics on Dive and Breach |
| title_full | Novel Hybrid Aquatic–Aerial Vehicle to Survey in High Sea States: Initial Flow Dynamics on Dive and Breach |
| title_fullStr | Novel Hybrid Aquatic–Aerial Vehicle to Survey in High Sea States: Initial Flow Dynamics on Dive and Breach |
| title_full_unstemmed | Novel Hybrid Aquatic–Aerial Vehicle to Survey in High Sea States: Initial Flow Dynamics on Dive and Breach |
| title_short | Novel Hybrid Aquatic–Aerial Vehicle to Survey in High Sea States: Initial Flow Dynamics on Dive and Breach |
| title_sort | novel hybrid aquatic aerial vehicle to survey in high sea states initial flow dynamics on dive and breach |
| topic | hybrid aquatic–aerial vehicle (HAAV) uncrewed underwater vehicle (UUV) uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) computational fluid dynamics electric propulsion low observability |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/13/7/1283 |
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