The Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) underwater observation equipment has previously been developed, but it had restriction for not being hydrodynamic still due to the unique conditions of the Sunda Strait waters. This study aims to further develop the previously developed ROV by improving the design structure of the ROV body. The method of design concept selection used was concept screening and concept scoring. In concept screening, the initial concept was evaluated relatively to the same preferences using screening matrices. On the other hand the Concept Scoring was conducted by determining the relative performance value which was the assessment used to evaluate how the comparison between concepts and number as the comparison. The result of the study obtained the selected design concept, which was small ROV with streamlined / half-streamlined body geometry which had rear-middle rotor configuration as motion component of hydrodynamic 3 DOF (surge, heave, and yaw).

Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) is a small marine craft used for underwater observation. Hence, the analysis of hydrodynamic characteristics is important. Hydrodynamic characteristics can be obtained by fluid dynamic visualization and simulation of Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD). In this paper, ROV Hydrodynamic characteristics begin by forming a three-dimensional (3D) ROV model, forming link elements (mesh) from the 3D ROV model, and forming the computational domain used for CFD simulations. CFD simulations were conducted by analyzing the fluid flow angle variations that represent motion of the ROV, namely translational motion and rotational motion towards the vertical axis (yaw). The simulation results obtained were compared with the previous ROV design that had been developed, so as to obtain an evaluation of the results of the design optimization. The results showed an increase in the hydrodynamic characteristics of the optimal ROV design indicated by the value of drag, pressure distribution, and fluid flow contour.