Current captive submarine models have a limited range of capabilities for experimentsinvolving surfaced or near-surface operations. The presence of interference caused by required mounting structures distorts fluid flows and model reactions thereby preventing the capture of accurate force and moment data. Development of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has helped to augment physical experiments with CFD simulation data. However, these data, specifically for surface/near-surface experiments, are difficult to verify and validate due to the complexities of physically modeling a free-surface environment with a captive model.

A wire suspension mount will greatly minimize mount interference and allow enough flexibility for a model to react appropriately without distortion of the reaction forces. This paper explores the initial steps to design this mount by developing a mathematical model to validate wire suspension as a viable mounting method for water environments.