Christopher Rahn, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor Christopher Rahn, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Keywords:
CIRCULARLY TOWED CABLE-BODY SYSTEMS
Abstract:
Circularly towed cable-body systems can be used to pick-up and deliver payloads, provide
surveillance, and tow aerial and marine vehicles. To provide a stable operating
platform, the body or end mass should have a unique and stable steady state solution
with small diameter so that it travels at a much slower speed than the tow vehicle. In
this thesis, the minimum damping is calculated that ensures the stable single valued
steady state solutions as a function of non-dimensional system parameters including
cable length and end mass. Steady state solutions are found using the numerical continuation
and bifurcation analysis and Galerkin’s method provides the linearized vibration
equations that determine stability. Bifurcation analysis is also used to find the minimum
achievable end mass radius. A design algorithm is presented and demonstrated using an
example.
