Mutual Influence between Passing Ships and Under-water Dredging Robot in Strong Current

Abstract

Dredging work of narrow navigation channel like Kanmon Channel is often restricted by such conditions as strong current, congestion by large ships etc. As a result, current dredging method using grab bucket dredger is not efficient and requires a long period of dredging work because of work time restriction by strong current and need for securing of ships' navigation. Therefore we initiated research of dredging method using under-water robot that enables ships' navigation any time. In the former paper, the authors reported the result of model test etc. on stability of under-water robot in strong current. In this paper the authors report the result of model test and numerical simulation on behavior of the robot and the ship when a ship passes over it.