The development of a foiling trailer for transport of the AUV62-AT

Abstract: The Swedish Navy recently presented a need to find new ways to transport autonomous underwater vehicles, AUVs, at high speed to and from mission areas. Following this, an investigation has been made into the development of a foiling trailer: a contraption that, when towed behind a small motorboat, will raise the AUV out of the water. This will enable transport at, for the towing boat, planing speeds.This report mainly covers the foil performance predictions done using engineering tools and evaluative methods, the results acquired through model testing and the agree-ment between them. The full project, conducted by the author and Jacob Zeidler, also entailed a significant design process. This is described in more depth by Jacob Zeidler [1].This study resulted in performance data of four separate surface piercing foils, and a recommendation to continue the development of, at most, three of them. While these three all fulfils the design requirements put forth, a single foil configuration is identified as exhibiting better properties regarding heel stability and take-o˙ velocity.