For consideration of both the eccentric rotatable rigid body and the translational rigid body, the dynamic model of the underwater glider is derived. Dynamical behaviors are also studied based on the model and can be used as the guidance to underwater gliders design. Gibbs function of the underwater glider system is derived first, and then the nonlinear dynamic model is obtained by use of Appell equations. The relationships between dynamic behaviors and design parameters are studied by solving the dynamic model. The spiral motion, swerving motion in three dimensions and the saw-tooth motion of the underwater glider in vertical plane are studied. Lake trials are carried out to validate the dynamic model.
PETREL, a winged hybrid-driven underwater glider is a novel and practical marine survey platform which combines the features of legacy underwater glider and conventional AUV （autonomous underwater vehicle）. It can be treated as a multi-rigid-body system with a floating base and a particular hydrodynamic profile. In this paper, theorems on linear and angular momentum are used to establish the dynamic equations of motion of each rigid body and the effect of translational and rotational motion of internal masses on the attitude control are taken into consideration. In addition, due to the unique external shape with fixed wings and deflectable rudders and the dual-drive operation in thrust and glide modes, the approaches of building dynamic model of conventional AUV and hydrodynamic model of submarine are introduced, and the tailored dynamic equations of the hybrid glider are formulated. Moreover, the behaviors of motion in glide and thrust operation are analyzed based on the simulation and the feasibility of the dynamic model is validated by data from lake field trials.
