The hybrid underwater glider (HUG) is an improved version of autonomous underwater glider which glide under the water by controlling their buoyancy and additional thruster. By the aid of the thruster, the maneuverability and performance of reaching to a target area can be improved.
In this thesis, the structure of the HUG is designed through analyses on the hydrodynamics of the ship and empirical formula for the ship design. The ship hull design of the HUG was performed, using this, the drag of the HUG was analysed. The structure and capacity of the buoyancy engine were designed through the analysis on the HUG. Also, a mass transfer system was designed for attitude control of the HUG. And an hull pressure analysis was performed for 200m depth operation of the HUG using FEM analysis. Also, computer simulations on the hydrodynamics of the HUG were performed through estimation of the hydrodynamic coefficients.
To test the performance of the actuator and to get hull coefficients, water tank tests were performed using the developed HUG. The results of the performance tests are presented and its results are discussed.