Research project

ETLAT (DIT.AD019.012)

Thematic area

Engineering, ICT and technologies for energy and transportation

Project area

Tecnologie Marittime (DIT.AD019)

Structure responsible for the research project

Institute of Marine Engineering (INM)

Project manager

FRANCESCO LA GALA
Phone number: 06502991
Email: francesco.lagala@cnr.it

Abstract

The goal of this project is to:
- share and jointly improve the scientific and technical knowledge of potential
performance of current Thin Line Towed Array (TLA) technologies (element sensors
and arrays),
- verify the potential application of new technologies to improve the performances of
current TLA technologies,
- improve the performances of TLAs,
- expand the application field of TLAs in view of ASW or other UW Surveillance applications.
The project has a theoretical and experimental approach. On one side, the project will give the possibility to develop numerical methods to estimate the performances of a TLA (Thin Line Arrays) towed at variable speeds, typical of Maritime Vehicles like UUVs, USVs, submarines, small surface vessels, and at variable incidence angles, due to limited stabilisation capability of the array. On the other end, experimental tests will give the necessary data to verify the validity of the numerical models. The experimental tests will give credible "hard fact" knowledge of TLA performance in addition to inputs for numerical method validation.

Goals

The goal is to improve the knowledge on Towed Arrays performances and develop specific tools to estimate their hydrodynamic and acoustic performances. The steps are:
- Understand the physical behavior of different types of Thin Line Arrays (TLA);
- Develop numerical models to predict the pressure and velocity fields induced by the flow on different types of TLA with different diameters and at different towing speeds;
- Develop numerical models to estimate the acoustic noise due to the array motion at different speeds for different TLA diameters, configuration and materials like outer hose, fillings, mouldings, sensors;
- Experimentally evaluate single sensors and TLA performances towed in a controlled environment to validate numerical models
Different methods will be applied, from desk studies to numeric simulations to experiments at sea, in lake and in towing tank.
At the end, through a comparison between the performances of traditional arrays and the estimated performances that can be reached with TLAs, potential impacts on capability improvements shall be assessed not only for UUV / AUV application.

Start date of activity

01/06/2015

Keywords

PRESSURE SENSORS, THIN LINE ARRAY

Last update: 29/03/2024