Autonomous Underwater Vehicles: Equations of

Motion

Monique Chyba - November 18, 2015

Departments of Mathematics, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa

Elective in Robotics 2015/2016 - Control of Unmanned Vehicles

Literature
Classical mechanics text for the equations of motion: Lamb (1961),
Ardema (2005) or Meriam & Kraige (1997). The addition of the
hydrodynamic forces and moments into these general equations
can be found in Lamb (1945) (see also Fossen 1994), with an
in-depth treatment of these topics presented in Newman (1977).

Ardema, M. D. (2005), Newton-Euler Dynamics, Springer, New

York.
Fossen, T. I. (1994), Guidance and Control of Ocean Vehicles, John
Wiley & Sons.
Lamb, H. (1945), Hydrodynamics, 6th edn, Dover Publications.
Lamb, H. (1961), Dynamics, University Press, Cambridge.
Meriam, J. & Kraige, L. (1997), Engineering Mechanics,
DYNAMICS, 4th edn, JohnWiley & Sons, Inc., New York.
Newman, J. (1977), Marine Hydrodynamics, MIT Press, Cambridge,
MA.
Rigid Body Kinematics

We first need a reference frame from which to measure distances

and angles. This is done by choosing an Earth-fixed reference
frame. For low-speed marine vehicles such as those studied here,
the Earths movement has a negligible effect on the dynamics of
the vehicle. Thus, the earth-fixed frame may be considered as an
inertial frame.

To precisely identify the configuration of a rigid body, we need to

know the position and orientation of a point on the body with
respect to the inertial reference frame. Thus, we will define a
reference frame fixed to a chosen point on the body.
Notations
Through the development of the differential geometric theory, the
SNAME (1950) standard notation will prove to be notationally
cumbersome for summations and geometric representations. To
this end, we choose an alternate notation to simplify the
expressions.
Special Euclidean Group
We identify the position and the orientation of a rigid body with
an element of SE(3): (b, R). Here b = (b1 , b2 , b3 )t ∈ R3 denotes
the position vector of the body, and R ∈ SO(3) is a rotation
matrix describing the orientation of the body.

Velocities
The translational and angular velocities in the body-fixed frame are
denoted by ν = (ν1 , ν2 , ν3 )t and Ω = (Ω1 , Ω2 , Ω3 )t respectively.

External Forces and moments

ϕν = (ϕ1 , ϕ2 , ϕ3 )t and τΩ = (τΩ1 , τΩ2 , τΩ3 )t account for the
control forces. We denote σ = (ϕν , τΩ )t .
Kinematic equations of a rigid body
The kinematic equations of a rigid body are give by:

ḃ = Rν, Ṙ = R Ω̂

where the operator ∗ˆ : R 3 → so(3) is defined by ŷ z = y × z with

so(3) the space of skew-symmetric matrices. In local coordinates,
we have:

ḃ1 = ν1 cos ψ cos θ + ν2 R 12 + ν3 R 13 ,

ḃ2 = ν1 sin ψ cos θ + ν2 R 22 + ν3 R 23 ,
ḃ3 = −ν1 sin θ + ν2 cos θ sin φ + ν3 cos θ cos φ,
φ̇ = Ω1 + Ω2 sin φ tan θ + Ω3 cos φ tan θ,
θ̇ = Ω2 cos φ − Ω3 sin φ,
sin φ cos φ
ψ̇ = Ω2 + Ω3
cos θ cos θ
Dynamic equations of a rigid body
Simplified

We take the origin of the body-fixed frame to be the center of

gravity CG . Moreover, we assume the body to have three planes of
symmetry with body axes which coincide with the principal axes of
inertia. The kinetic energy of the rigid body is given by
 t   
1 v mI3 0 v
Tbody = (1)
2 Ω 0 J Ω

where m is the mass of the rigid body, I3 is the 3 × 3-identity

matrix and J is the body inertia matrix. The equations of motion
for a rigid body are:

M ν̇ = Mν × Ω
(2)
J Ω̇ = JΩ × Ω + Mν × ν

where M = mI3 .
Submerged Rigid Body Dynamics

We will now examine the additional forces and moments acting on

a rigid body which arise due to submersion in a fluid. We first
consider the added mass and inertia resulting from the kinetic
energy of the fluid caused by accelerations of the body. Next, we
examine the damping and dissipation experienced by a body
submerged in a viscous fluid. Finally, we consider the terms
required to account for the restoring (conservative) forces and
moments, which arise from gravity and buoyancy.
Added Mass
The added mass is a pressure-induced force due to the inertia of
the surrounding fluid and is proportional to the acceleration of the
rigid body. Assume three planes of symmetry, as is common for
most AUVs and the added mass matrix is diagonal.

Note that the matrix CorB is different from the previous

presentation since the fluid does indeed contribute to the Coriolis
and centripetal forces.
Imlay, F. (1961), The complete expressions for added mass of a rigid
body moving in an ideal fluid, Technical Report DTMB 1528, David
Taylor Model Basin, Washington D.C.
Viscous Damping

Viscous damping and dissipation encountered by marine vehicles

are caused by many factors. The major factors include
radiation-induced potential damping from forced body oscillations
in the presence of a free surface, linear and quadratic skin friction,
wave drift damping and vortex shedding. We assume the drag
force Dν (ν) and drag momentum DΩ (Ω) matrices are both
diagonal. We have:

M ν̇ = Mν × Ω + Dν (ν)ν + R t ρg Vk + ϕν
J Ω̇ = JΩ × Ω + Mν × ν + DΩ (Ω)Ω − rB × R t ρg Vk + τΩ

where Dν (.), DΩ (.) represent the drag force and momentum.

Allmendinger, E. E. (1990), Submersible Vehicle Design, SNAME.
Restoring Forces and Moments

Restoring forces can be viewed as a force (torque) which acts to

pull the rigid body back to its original position or orientation.

where W = mg is the submerged weight and B = ρg V the

buoyancy force.
Under our assumptions, the equations of motion, in the body-fixed
frame, for a controlled rigid body submerged in a real fluid are
given by:

M ν̇ = Mν × Ω + Dν (ν)ν + R t ρg V ~k + ϕν
J Ω̇ = JΩ × Ω + Mν × ν + DΩ (Ω)Ω − rB × R t ρg V ~k + τΩ

where M accounts for the mass and added mass coefficients, J

accounts for the body moments of inertia and added moments of
inertia coefficients. The matrices Dν (ν), DΩ (Ω) represent the drag
force and momentum. And, ϕν = (ϕν1 , ϕν2 , ϕν3 )t and
τΩ = (τΩ1 , τΩ2 , τΩ3 )t account for the control forces.
Equivalent Expression
Kinetic Energy Metric

The kinetic energy metric is the unique Riemannian metric on

Q × SO(3) defined by
 
mI3 + Mf 0
G=
0 Jb + Jf

Bullo, F. & Lewis, A. D. (2005a), Geometric Control of Mechanical

Systems, Springer.
do Carmo, M. (1992), Riemannian Geometry, Birkhauser, Boston.
slides-bullo.pdf
Levi-Civita Connection

It is the unique affine connection that is both symmetric and

metric compatible. The Levi-Civita connection provides the
appropriate notion of acceleration for a curve in the configuration
space by guaranteeing that the acceleration is in fact a tangent
vector field along a curve. The connection also accounts for the
Coriolis and centripetal forces acting on the system. Explicitly, if
γ(t) = (b(t), R(t)) is a curve in SE(3), and γ 0 (t) = (ν(t), Ω(t)) is
its pseudo-velocity, the acceleration is given by

ν̇ + M −1 Ω × Mν


0
∇γ 0 γ = , (3)
Ω̇ + J −1 Ω × JΩ + ν × Mν

where ∇ denotes the Levi-Civita connection and ∇γ 0 γ 0 is the

covariant derivative of γ 0 with respect to itself.
Submerged rigid-body is a first-order affine control system on the
tangent bundle T SE(3) which represents the second-order forced
affine-connection control system on SE(3)

M −1 Dν (ν)ν + ϕν


0
∇γ 0 γ =
. (4)
J −1 DΩ (Ω)Ω − rCB × R t ρg Vk + τΩ

Introducing σ = (ϕν , τΩ ), equation (4) takes the form:

6
X
∇γ 0 γ 0 = Y (γ(t)) + I−1
i (γ(t))σi (t) (5)
i=1
 
with Ii−1 being column i of the matrix I−1 = M −1 0 and
0 J −1
Y (γ(t)) accounts for the external forces.