Wingsail Design Methodology and Performance Evaluation Metrics for Autonomous Sailing

This dissertation explores an innovative approach to the design of aerodynamically-actuated wingsails, along with advancements in marine vehicle autonomy focused on vessel tracking and collision avoidance. The first segment of this research introduces a deterministic wingsail design optimization fra...

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Main Author: Cole, Blake Ian Barry
Other Authors: Traykovski, Peter A.
Format: Thesis
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2024
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/156304
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author Cole, Blake Ian Barry
author2 Traykovski, Peter A.
author_facet Traykovski, Peter A.
Cole, Blake Ian Barry
author_sort Cole, Blake Ian Barry
collection MIT
description This dissertation explores an innovative approach to the design of aerodynamically-actuated wingsails, along with advancements in marine vehicle autonomy focused on vessel tracking and collision avoidance. The first segment of this research introduces a deterministic wingsail design optimization framework that leverages geometric programming to efficiently generate optimal wingsail designs. The proposed methodology is then validated through the development and deployment of a bespoke wingsail data acquisition system called the WingDAQ, which enables quantitative analysis of the unsteady forces affecting wingsail performance in realistic sailing conditions. The results highlight the limitations of traditional aerodynamic models due to unsteady flow conditions, and suggest that lighter wingsails designed with higher lift-to-drag ratios and faster natural frequencies enhance sailing performance. This thesis also introduces a novel instantiation of the unscented Kalman filter (UKF) that is particularly well suited to long-distance surface vessel tracking, and facilitates affordable collision avoidance capabilities on autonomous surface vessels. One such low-cost collision avoidance system is presented, utilizing real-time data from the Automatic Information System (AIS) and the behavior-based autonomy middleware, MOOS-IvP. Field tests confirm the robustness of this framework, establishing a foundation for the integration of physics-based design optimization and adaptive autonomy for wind-powered marine vehicles.
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spelling mit-1721.1/1563042024-08-22T03:33:49Z Wingsail Design Methodology and Performance Evaluation Metrics for Autonomous Sailing Cole, Blake Ian Barry Traykovski, Peter A. Schmidt, Henrik Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering This dissertation explores an innovative approach to the design of aerodynamically-actuated wingsails, along with advancements in marine vehicle autonomy focused on vessel tracking and collision avoidance. The first segment of this research introduces a deterministic wingsail design optimization framework that leverages geometric programming to efficiently generate optimal wingsail designs. The proposed methodology is then validated through the development and deployment of a bespoke wingsail data acquisition system called the WingDAQ, which enables quantitative analysis of the unsteady forces affecting wingsail performance in realistic sailing conditions. The results highlight the limitations of traditional aerodynamic models due to unsteady flow conditions, and suggest that lighter wingsails designed with higher lift-to-drag ratios and faster natural frequencies enhance sailing performance. This thesis also introduces a novel instantiation of the unscented Kalman filter (UKF) that is particularly well suited to long-distance surface vessel tracking, and facilitates affordable collision avoidance capabilities on autonomous surface vessels. One such low-cost collision avoidance system is presented, utilizing real-time data from the Automatic Information System (AIS) and the behavior-based autonomy middleware, MOOS-IvP. Field tests confirm the robustness of this framework, establishing a foundation for the integration of physics-based design optimization and adaptive autonomy for wind-powered marine vehicles. Ph.D. 2024-08-21T18:55:19Z 2024-08-21T18:55:19Z 2024-05 2024-06-13T16:43:27.150Z Thesis https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/156304 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) Copyright retained by author(s) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology
spellingShingle Cole, Blake Ian Barry
Wingsail Design Methodology and Performance Evaluation Metrics for Autonomous Sailing
title Wingsail Design Methodology and Performance Evaluation Metrics for Autonomous Sailing
title_full Wingsail Design Methodology and Performance Evaluation Metrics for Autonomous Sailing
title_fullStr Wingsail Design Methodology and Performance Evaluation Metrics for Autonomous Sailing
title_full_unstemmed Wingsail Design Methodology and Performance Evaluation Metrics for Autonomous Sailing
title_short Wingsail Design Methodology and Performance Evaluation Metrics for Autonomous Sailing
title_sort wingsail design methodology and performance evaluation metrics for autonomous sailing
url https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/156304
work_keys_str_mv AT coleblakeianbarry wingsaildesignmethodologyandperformanceevaluationmetricsforautonomoussailing