Self-healing mechanism (SHM) application has attracted interest due to ability to self-heal as response to damage situations in various conditions, and is being actively explored. However, the application of SHM that can be autonomously triggered for temporarily keeping structural integrity of underwater robotic vehicle (URV) under flooding condition is still scarce publicly. This paper describes an investigation in watertight integrity performance of URV’s hull under damaged stability criteria. The main goal is to investigate the characterization of a rapid SHM through an experiment for identifying progressive flooding in a damaged URV’s hull. Here, it is demonstrated that the effectiveness of sodium polyacrylate, a kind of superabsorbent polymers (SAP), had been studied by applying the polymer on an experimental model of damaged URV’s hull. A comparison is studied for the stability of the flooded URV and the mass of water accumulated inside the URV’s hull between the cases of before and after applying the SHM in the damaged model under different damaged conditions. The results showed that the SHM application had rapidly blocked the damaged leak hole and prevented severe water flow ingress in the damaged URV’s hull. Swift recovery of buoyancy was obtained, as the volume of absorbed water by SHM was converted into equivalent buoyancy loss. These findings are establishing a fundamental knowledge for implementation of SHM in underwater robotic structures.

自愈机制 (SHM) 应用由于能够在各种条件下对损坏情况作出响应而具有自愈能力，因此引起了人们的兴趣，并且正在积极探索中。然而，可以自动触发的 SHM 的应用在洪水条件下暂时保持水下机器人（URV）的结构完整性仍然很少公开。本文描述了在破损稳性标准下对 URV 船体的水密完整性性能的调查。主要目标是通过识别受损 URV 船体渐进进水的实验来研究快速 SHM 的特征。在这里，通过将聚合物应用于受损 URV 船体的实验模型，证明了聚丙烯酸钠是一种高吸水性聚合物 (SAP) 的有效性。比较了在不同损伤条件下，在损伤模型中应用SHM前后的情况下，浸没URV的稳定性和URV船体内部积水的质量。结果表明，SHM 应用迅速堵塞了损坏的泄漏孔，并防止了损坏的 URV 船体中的严重水流进入。浮力迅速恢复，因为 SHM 吸收的水量转化为等效的浮力损失。这些发现为在水下机器人结构中实施 SHM 奠定了基础知识。结果表明，SHM 应用迅速堵塞了损坏的泄漏孔，并防止了损坏的 URV 船体中的严重水流进入。浮力迅速恢复，因为 SHM 吸收的水量转化为等效的浮力损失。这些发现为在水下机器人结构中实施 SHM 奠定了基础知识。结果表明，SHM 应用迅速堵塞了损坏的泄漏孔，并防止了损坏的 URV 船体中的严重水流进入。浮力迅速恢复，因为 SHM 吸收的水量转化为等效的浮力损失。这些发现为在水下机器人结构中实施 SHM 奠定了基础知识。