Some Considerations on an Underwater Robotic Manipulator Subjected to the Environmental Disturbances Caused by Water Current

The objective of this paper is to discuss some of the issues associated with environmental load on the three-link serial manipulator caused by underwater current. We have conducted CFD simulations to investigate hydrodynamic effects induced by changing current direction and changing with time current speed in order to better understand the physics of the problem. The results are presented in terms of moments of hydrodynamic forces plotted against relative position of the current and the robotic arm. Time history of hydrodynamic loads according to periodically changing current speed is presented and discussed.