Towards Automated Intervention on Complex Underwater Structures Using a Curvilinear Control and Navigation Approach

Hydro-Québec operates over 60 hydroelectric power plants that produce approximately 37 GW of installed power. One of the key measurements that must be performed periodically on these assets is the residual thickness of the penstock metal liner. Hydro-Québec's research institute is working on a project that aims at using an unmanned underwater vehicle to perform the visual inspection and metal thickness measurement of penstocks without dewatering them, during short periods of low-demand shutdown. The main challenges of this application are access, positioning, measurement technique and productivity. This paper provides an overview of the project, with an emphasis on the custom navigation approach being developed, and presents the field experiments that have taken place thus far.