ANALYSIS OF DRAG REDUCTION PERFORMANCE OF ELLIPTICAL FAIRINGS FOR WAVE GLIDER HYDROPHONE COMMUNICATOR

To address the wave glider acoustic communicator drag reduction problem, the hydroacoustic communicator fairing is designed and analyzed using hydrodynamic software to determine its design parameters. The optimal axial length ratio of the elliptical fairing is simulated under the direct sailing condition. Then the leading edge length is optimized under the virtual mooring condition. Finally, the reliability of the simulation is verified by the sea test. The results show that compared to the cylindrical shape, the proposed fairing has the best drag reduction effect when the axial length ratio of the cross-section is 3. The drag reduction is 82.2% and 54% during linear and virtual mooring motions, respectively. This study provides reference for the design and optimization of the fairing shield for low-speed (Reynolds number is 3×10⁵) hydroacoustic communicators.