A unified simulation framework for wave energy powered underwater vehicle docking and charging

As wave energy conversion technology advances, recharge of autonomous underwater vehicles has emerged as a promising application for this at-sea power. We bring together an interdisciplinary team to create a simulation framework linking hydrodynamic modeling, autonomous docking and navigation algorithms, and a power tracking model to better understand how a full wave energy converter–autonomous underwater vehicle system could be modeled. A floating point absorber wave energy converter is modeled and analyzed under various wave conditions. We incorporate three different dock designs, using the modeled dock motion and simulated wave-induced currents to test our autonomous docking algorithm. We couple the output of this algorithm to the hydrodynamic model to simulate autonomous docking. This shows that docking with a floating third body is successful in most sea states, while a dock rigidly mounted to the wave energy converter presents difficulty for autonomous docking. Finally, we incorporate a power model to better understand the feasibility and capabilities of a wave energy converter–underwater vehicle system in simulated wave environments. This shows that this system is comfortably supported in the majority of sea states, and provides an estimate of the on-board power storage required to maximize vehicle mission time.