Students Construct Human-Powered Submarine

For the fourth time a student team of the Delft University of Technology is building a human-powered submarine, to perform in an international race. This year the design of WASUB 4, as the submarine is called, was inspired by sharks and aerodynamics, in the hope this will bring them the grand prize in England.

The WASUB 4 is not the first human-powered submarine that has been designed, constructed and raced by students from the Delft University of Technology. Laura Peeperkorn, team and sponsor manager of the team: ”The first WASUB vessel was built in 2004, but after the second vessel in 2005 the project stopped for about seven years. Last year, a team of students took the initiative to start the project again because they were interested in the design and construction of a submarine. The WASUB 3 finished second in the International Submarine Races – ISR – in the Unites States of America, a great performance from a team without any close predecessors or foreknowledge. This year, we try to improve their performance by becoming first in the European International Submarine Races, EISR.” The race will be held from 7 to 11 July in the QinetiQ’s Ocean Basin testing facility in Haslar, England.

Cigar-shaped object

Everybody knows what a submarine looks like, but what is a human-powered submarine? Peeperkorn explains: ”A human-powered submarine is a cigar-shaped object, in which a person, who will be lying down, has to propel the vessel. We have chosen to propel our submarine by cycling, which kind of gives the idea of a reclining bicycle, but then in the water. In our case the cyclist is even lying face down on his stomach with his head facing forwards, so the propeller is at the backside of the vessel.”

The 2.71 metres long submarine has the same volume as the water. Peeperkorn: ”Before the racer takes his position in the submarine, it will be completely filled with water. This is for safety reasons, it is also possible to fill the vessel with air but then the chance that something will go wrong and the vessel implodes is much higher. The racer is therefore breathing through a scuba-diving system. The propulsion of the submarine is, as I told, by cycling, so the vessel’s screws are driven by gearwheels that cause rotation. The screws will perform best at an rpm of 300, which means the gearwheels have to make 100 rpm.”

WMN No. 4 2014 32 2Sharks and aerodynamics

The team has made some drastic changes to last year’s design. The inspiration of the new submarine was found in sharks and aerodynamics. ”The length of the submarine has been shortened significantly”, says Peeperkorn. ”This year we have installed a electronic system, which enables us to steer the submarine by two small joysticks instead of the mechanical system with brake cables they had last year. We were also able to reduce the sizes of the gearwheel system, so it now fits in the smallest part of the vessel. Furthermore, we looked at aerodynamics because in some ways it is very similar to hydrodynamics, for example the currents. And because this year the submarine has to be able to slalom in the EISR, we examined how sharks manage to do so and it appeared that their fixed, static vin in the middle enables them to slalom. Now our submarine also has a vin.”

No 4 MbH Juni-Juli 2014 voor Website.jpg 32 1The EISR is, however, not only focused on the team which can sail the fastest or slalom the best. Peeperkorn: ”The contest actually has five main criteria: the race, design, construction, safety and reliability of the submarine all count for the grand prize. Therefore, the preparation is really important. The jury, for instance, looks at how the vessel has been finished; is the hull smooth, how does it look? They also check if the racer can escape safely from the vessel if anything goes wrong, which is why we have installed a dead man’s button.” The race itself consists of a sprint, a turn and a slalom that have to be performed every day and will also increase in difficulty every day.

Future employees

In order to make the design, construction and racing of the vessel possible, the WASUB 4 team needs sponsors to finance the materials for the project, but also to help them with knowledge, advice and tools. The team is sponsored by several (marine) companies. Ulf Teske of sponsor Svitzer: ”We think that WASUB is a good initiative from the students. Worldwide it is putting the Delft University of Technology on the map and it enlarges the brand awareness of Svitzer in the maritime industry. Secondly, we as a marine company are bound to the university, because our employees, the naval architects, derive from there. The current students of the university are the future of Svitzer.” Ronno Schouten of sponsor Feadship agrees: ”In the first place we are sponsor because we think it is a nice project, which lays claim to the creativity, entrepreneurial and management skills of the students, among others. Furthermore, we also like to promote Feadship amongst students, to attract them after their study. This year we offer the team financial support, but last year we also made calculations for them.”

 No 4 MbH Juni-Juli 2014 voor Website.jpg 32 2

The team

This year 18 students of Delft University of Technology participate in the WASUB 4 project, of which some full-time and some part-time. The reasons to participate differ, Peeperkorn herself wanted to gain practical experience in the area of designing as well as going through the whole engineering process: ”At the Delft University of Technology you can choose to participate in several different projects. I chose WASUB because I think submarines speak to the imagination and are fascinating.” The 18 students come from different studies, like maritime technology, aerospace engineering and other studies. ”Everybody is welcome”, explains Peeperkorn. ”As long as they are motivated and contribute value to the team.”

Having students from different studies in the team caused some interesting challenges. Peeperkorn: ”During the designing phase it was really clear we all came from different studies, when we all had a different outlook on specific parts of the design and on how currents influence the vessel. In those cases it is best to reason logically and it turned out that the students mechanical engineering were good mediators.”

Anne Kregting