The design of a launch and recovery vehicle for AUVs (LARVA)

Abstract

The engineering problem presented in this paper is the design of LARVA, a new launch and recovery vessel for the Memorial Explorer AUV. The solution detailed in this report is one which is modelled after a heavy lift vessel. It is a 19ft long, unmanned vessel and is capable of launching or recovering the AUV by ballasting itself to a 3.7ft draft and raising itself back up. The innovative aspects of this design is that it was designed to be used with a readily available boat trailer for launch and recovery with a slipway. The concept solution was analyzed using hydrostatics analysis software to assess its stability and to aid in the process of positioning and sizing the ballast tanks. A motion tracking system was used during model testing to assess its seakeeping ability in offshore waves and an analysis of variance test (ANOVA) was conducted to: capture the dependency between the input parameters, reduce the number of runs required, and to generate a response surface characterizing the heaving motions.