Research Summaries

Back Wake Dynamics and Detection: Environmental Influences

Fiscal Year 2020
Division Graduate School of Engineering & Applied Science
Department Oceanography
Investigator(s) Joseph, John E.
Radko, Timour
Sponsor Office of Naval Research (Navy)
Summary This study will continue the research, development, test and evaluation efforts of hydrodynamically?based detection methods for USW using field work, numerical simulations and theory. The investigation of surface and subsurface wakes for the purpose of detection is most timely since the understanding of environmental influences and numerical modeling capabilities have only recently reached the level at which all key physical components can be fully represented. Preliminary results generated by our group have been highly encouraging. Previous efforts of the PIs and NPS thesis students in Monterey Bay resulted in a successful wake detection using temperature measurements recorded by a UUV. The identification of detection vulnerabilities will affect the tactics of undersea warfare by narrowing search areas for USW. These techniques became particularly effective in the view of continuous technological advances in remote sensing methods, which have dramatically improved the accuracy of measurements in the submarine wake. Our findings will offer valuable operational guidance and will be used in tactical decision-making. This effort will be focused on the following aspects: (i) the sensitivity of wakes to thermohaline stratification; (ii) effects of planetary rotation on late wake pattern; (iii) the analysis of interaction between wakes and ambient finescale variability; and (iv) the application of machine-learning algorithms to a series of numerical wake simulations aimed at the development of reliable identification algorithms.
Keywords Hydrodynamic Detection Stratified Wakes Turbulence
Publications Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal
Data Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal