The eISR
The European International Submarine Races challenges teams of university students to design, build and race human-powered submarines against the clock on an out-and-back course. The concept combines engineering design challenge with technical skill development and sets them in a unique and exciting sporting competition.
The basic rules of the sport are straightforward – teams must design, build and race flooded submarines piloted by a single scuba diver, who must be fully enclosed within the hull of the machine. All propulsion power must be provided by the diver during the race (i.e. no energy storage devices such as flywheels or batteries are allowed), but otherwise the design rules are open to whatever innovation teams decide to use.
The resultant designs are submarines in the fullest sense of the word, minus the one constraint of watertight hull. The removal of that constraint ensures that the competition is about engineering innovation and sporting achievement, rather than just about waterproofing. Innovation comes in the design of the hulls to minimise drag and maximise thrust while optimising transmission systems to make best advantage of the pilot’s limited power production. The importance of buoyancy, trim and directional control is highlighted, and innovation encouraged. One-man propeller-powered submarines achieved speeds closing in on 7kts during the 2012 races, all on less than 600W input power.
The EISR is also about developing real, practical engineering skills. In the funding-constrained university environment, the practical elements of curricula have been replaced with theoretical calculation and computer modelling. A submarine big enough to contain a diver is a real, tangible machine, and the mechanisms have to be produced and take real forces.
Finally, the competition is about working as a team in a time-critical, adrenaline-charged atmosphere. During the build-up to the race, the students learn to exploit each others’ strengths, and design into their machines what they think they will need to succeed at the races. In initial testing, they learn where the weaknesses are, and make considered adjustments to their designs. Then, once they arrive on the racecourse, and really put their machines to the test, they invariably find new challenges, and have to bring out their engineering knowledge to find solutions on-the-fly with limited facilities. Such experience is invaluable to them later in their careers, regardless of the direction they take. – http://www.subrace.eu/about.html 15/10/2013
The race consists of a sprint followed by a u-turn and a slalom. As the main goal of the EISR is to produce more practical and real engineering skills there aren’t just awards for speed, but also for innovation, best technical presentation and an overall award. The EISR takes place biannually at QinetiQ’s Ocean Basin testing facility at Haslar, Gosport, England. A total of twelve teams will be competing in the race of July 2016.
The basic rules of the sport are straightforward – teams must design, build and race flooded submarines piloted by a single scuba diver, who must be fully enclosed within the hull of the machine. All propulsion power must be provided by the diver during the race (i.e. no energy storage devices such as flywheels or batteries are allowed), but otherwise the design rules are open to whatever innovation teams decide to use.
The resultant designs are submarines in the fullest sense of the word, minus the one constraint of watertight hull. The removal of that constraint ensures that the competition is about engineering innovation and sporting achievement, rather than just about waterproofing. Innovation comes in the design of the hulls to minimise drag and maximise thrust while optimising transmission systems to make best advantage of the pilot’s limited power production. The importance of buoyancy, trim and directional control is highlighted, and innovation encouraged. One-man propeller-powered submarines achieved speeds closing in on 7kts during the 2012 races, all on less than 600W input power.
The EISR is also about developing real, practical engineering skills. In the funding-constrained university environment, the practical elements of curricula have been replaced with theoretical calculation and computer modelling. A submarine big enough to contain a diver is a real, tangible machine, and the mechanisms have to be produced and take real forces.
Finally, the competition is about working as a team in a time-critical, adrenaline-charged atmosphere. During the build-up to the race, the students learn to exploit each others’ strengths, and design into their machines what they think they will need to succeed at the races. In initial testing, they learn where the weaknesses are, and make considered adjustments to their designs. Then, once they arrive on the racecourse, and really put their machines to the test, they invariably find new challenges, and have to bring out their engineering knowledge to find solutions on-the-fly with limited facilities. Such experience is invaluable to them later in their careers, regardless of the direction they take. – http://www.subrace.eu/about.html 15/10/2013
The race consists of a sprint followed by a u-turn and a slalom. As the main goal of the EISR is to produce more practical and real engineering skills there aren’t just awards for speed, but also for innovation, best technical presentation and an overall award. The EISR takes place biannually at QinetiQ’s Ocean Basin testing facility at Haslar, Gosport, England. A total of twelve teams will be competing in the race of July 2016.
The ISR
The International Submarine Races were conceived as an engineering competition to foster engagement in the ocean engineering and science disciplines by young students. This was to address the developing shortfall in maritime engineering and sciences necessary for the economic success of participating nations. An engineering competition was chosen as the method to attract these students into these career fields.
The ISR is not only conceived to inspire students but also to foster advances in subsea vehicle hydrodynamic, propulsion and life support systems and to increase public awareness of the challenges people face in working in and exploring the ocean depths.
The first human-powered International Submarine Race TM (ISR) was held in 1989 at Singer Island off Riveria Beach, Florida and drew 17 boats. ISR 2 grew to 35 sub team entries in 1991. ISR 3 in 1993 off Ft. Lauderdale drew 44 submarine teams. The 1995 design competition, ISR 4, was the first in a controlled environment and was held at the NAVAL Surface Warface Center (NSWC) – Carderock Division. NSWC Carderock has graciously hosted the races every other year since, and it has growth to 19 teams competing in 2013 with 21 boats entered. – http://www.isrsubrace.org/ 19-11-2015
The ISR is all about speed. The teams are given the same distance to accelerate after which the speed is measured at a pair of time gates. This is the race the WASUB V team attended in the summer of 2015. The WASUB V team broke the world speed record in the propellor categorie. The record now stands proudly at 7.42 knots.
The ISR is not only conceived to inspire students but also to foster advances in subsea vehicle hydrodynamic, propulsion and life support systems and to increase public awareness of the challenges people face in working in and exploring the ocean depths.
The first human-powered International Submarine Race TM (ISR) was held in 1989 at Singer Island off Riveria Beach, Florida and drew 17 boats. ISR 2 grew to 35 sub team entries in 1991. ISR 3 in 1993 off Ft. Lauderdale drew 44 submarine teams. The 1995 design competition, ISR 4, was the first in a controlled environment and was held at the NAVAL Surface Warface Center (NSWC) – Carderock Division. NSWC Carderock has graciously hosted the races every other year since, and it has growth to 19 teams competing in 2013 with 21 boats entered. – http://www.isrsubrace.org/ 19-11-2015
The ISR is all about speed. The teams are given the same distance to accelerate after which the speed is measured at a pair of time gates. This is the race the WASUB V team attended in the summer of 2015. The WASUB V team broke the world speed record in the propellor categorie. The record now stands proudly at 7.42 knots.