Performance comparison of rudder profiles for lateral steering of seismic streamers CILAMCE 2017 Proceedings of the XXXVIII Iberian Latin-American Congress on Computational Methods in Engineering R.H. Lopez, L.F.F. Miguel, P.O. Farias (Editor), ABMEC, Florianópolis, SC, Brazil, November 5-8, 2017 PERFORMANCE COMPARISON OF RUDDER PROFILES FOR LATERAL STEERING OF SEISMIC STREAMERS Jan Vidar Grindheim 1,2,3* jg@geograf.no Inge Revhaug 2 inge.revhaug@nmbu.no Joel Sena Sales Junior 3 joel@oceanica.ufrj.br Mohammad Mobasheramini 3 mohammad.amini@oceanica.ufrj.br Egil Pedersen 4 egil.pedersen@ntc-as.no Peder Solheim 1 peder@geograf.no Abstract Seismic streamers are utilized extensively for offshore petroleum exploration. Optimal steering of the streamers is one important aspect of improving the efficiency of seismic operations. A simulation study has been performed for comparing the efficiency of symmetric rudder profiles for lateral steering of towed underwater seismic streamers. The profiles are in two categories: NACA symmetrical profiles and Schilling profiles. In the first set of simulation runs, profiles proprietary to Laboratório de Ondas e Correntes (LOC) at 1 Geograf AS, Strandgt. 5, NO-4307 Sandnes, Norway. *Corresponding author. E-mail: jg@geograf.no 2 Faculty of Science and Technology, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), IMT, P.O.B. 5003, NO-1432 Ås, Norway. 3 Laboratório de Ondas e Correntes (LOC) at UFRJ/COPPE, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 22241-160, Brazil. 4 Department of Engineering Science and Safety, UiT - The Arctic University of Norway, Hansine Hansens veg 18, NO-9037 Tromsø, Norway.