Design and Test of an Unmanned Semi-submersible Vehicle with Blended-Wing Body

In this paper, a new type of unmanned semi-submersible vehicle with blended-wing body is proposed, which is called BQ-01 and developed by Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Shenyang Institute of Automation (SIA). Design contents of BQ-01 include linear design, control surface design, propulsion system design, intake and exhaust system design, and fuel system design. On the premise of blended-wing body hydrodynamic layout, CST method is used to establish the parametric geometric model of the vehicle hull. Computational fluid dynamic (CFD) software is used to analyze its hydrodynamic performance, including the hull and the mast. Bow and stern rudders of the vehicle are designed based on the CFD analysis. Propulsion system consists of a Cummins diesel engine, a Rolls-Royce waterjet, as well as a clutch and a universal joint and other components. The diesel engine inhales air from the mast to the cabin. A wet exhaust system is used. To reduce BQ-01 buoyancy changes caused by fuel consumption, a distributed fuel balance supply solution is used. BQ-01 has undergone two lake tests and a sea test. Tests showed that BQ-01 had good horizontal mobility and a good sea-keeping capability.