On the wave wake behind a moving hurricane

The phase pattern of inertia-gravity waves that form a wake in the ocean behind a moving hurricane is investigated using a kinematic theory. In the framework of the model of a two-layer ocean, simple analytical expressions are obtained for phase surfaces (surfaces of the ridges and troughs of wave structure) and the dependence of the semiangle of a wave cone on the speed of the hurricane is determined. It is shown that the observed asymmetry of the wave wake in the horizontal plane may be related to inhomogeneity in the distribution of the Coriolis parameter with latitude.     

On the skin friction and resulting wake of a two-dimensional planing plate

The skin friction of a two-dimensional planing flat plate is made up of two opposing components; a drag force from the flow aft of the stagnation line and an opposing thrust force from the jet flow. This paper is concerned only with the drag term and the wake velocity defect which it causes in the water behind the transom.It is concluded that the skin friction is less than would be expected from a flat plate at ambient static pressure (D_fo say) and is approximately equal to D_fo (1 ? C_R), where C_R is the normal force coefficient based on wetted area. The wake velocity decrement due to this drag is found to be significant, particularly for surface piercing propellers.     

Eiders Somateria mollissima scavenging behind a lugworm boat

The eider is one of the most important molluscivorous birds in the Wadden Sea, where it feeds mainly on blue mussels Mytilus edulis and edible cockles Cerastoderma edule. These prey species are within reach of the birds at all times. Other potential prey of suitable size that are abundantly present, such as several polychaete worms, or the clam Mya arenaria, are taken to a much lesser extent, possibly because they live buried in the sediment and digging them out would take too much effort. Mya may pose another problem because they grow to sizes that prevent eiders from swallowing them. Large Mya also live too deep down in the sediment, but young (small) specimens should be available to eiders. Yet, even these have only rarely been found as prey in eiders in the Wadden Sea. However, diet studies in relation to food abundance have been few, and may have missed prey that do not leave large shell fragments (i.e. in faeces studies). This paper describes observations on eiders taking both Mya and polychaete worms. The eiders fed on these prey in a fashion reminiscent of gulls that scavenge behind fishing vessels: some eiders have learnt to follow professional worm-digging boats that supply a bycatch of molluscs (mainly Mya arenaria) and polychaete worms (mainly Arenicola marina and Nephtys hombergii). Mya and worms were also the main targets of the eiders that fed in a dense flock close to the boat's stern. Faeces found on the flats at low tide comprised mainly cockle shell fragments, a prey rarely taken by the eiders behind the boat. Faeces studies may thus give a highly biased impression of local eider diet.     

On the development of a small catamaran boat

Hull forms and hydrodynamic characteristics of small catamarans are studied. The results of model tests and numerical simulations are cross-examined to carefully investigate the shallow water behaviors of the boats as well as the influence of spacing between demi-hulls on the resistance characteristics. A 12 m long 9.77 ton class catamaran has been developed and several ships have already been produced and deployed as pleasure fishing boats along the west coast of the Korean peninsula. The boats are made of fiber-reinforced plastics and are equipped with a pair of 280 hp diesel engines and water jet propulsion systems. The maximum speed of a fully loaded catamaran exceeds 25 knot. The results of sea trials are compared with those predicted from the model tests.     

Analysis of wake behind a rotating propeller using PIV technique in a cavitation tunnel

A two-frame particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique is used to investigate the wake characteristics behind a marine propeller with 4 blades at high Reynolds number. For each of 9 different blade phases from 0° to 80°, 150 instantaneous velocity fields are measured. They are ensemble averaged to study the spatial evolution of the propeller wake in the region ranging from the trailing edge to one propeller diameter (D) downstream location. The phase-averaged mean velocity shows that the trailing vorticity is related to radial velocity jump, and the viscous wake is affected by boundary layers developed on the blade surfaces and centrifugal force. Both Galilean decomposition method and vortex identification method using swirling strength calculation are very useful for the study of vortex behaviors in the propeller wake region. The slipstream contraction occurs in the near-wake region up to about X/D=0.53 downstream. Thereafter, unstable oscillation occurs because of the reduction of interaction between the tip vortex and the wake sheet behind the maximum contraction point.     

Large-eddy simulation of the turbulent near wake behind a circular cylinder: Reynolds number effect

The purpose of the present work is <!–<query>The highlights are in an incorrect format. Hence they have been deleted. Please refer the online instructions: http://www.elsevier.com/highlights and provide 3-5 bullet points.</query>–>to study the effect of the Reynolds number on the near-wake structure and separating shear layers behind a circular cylinder. Three-dimensional unsteady large-eddy simulation is carried out and two different subgrid scale models are applied in order to evaluate the turbulent wake reasonably. The Reynolds number based on the free-stream velocity and the cylinder diameter is ranging from Re = 5500–41,300, corresponding to the full development of the shear-layer instability in the intermediate subcritical flow regime. For a complete validation of this numerical study, hydrodynamic bulk coefficients are computed and compared to experimental measurements and numerical studies in the literature. Special focus is made on the variations of both the large-scale near-wake structure and the small-scale shear-layer instability with increasing Reynolds numbers. The present numerical study clearly shows the broadband nature of the shear-layer instability as well as the dependence of the shear-layer frequency especially on the high Reynolds numbers.     

A critical CAE analysis of the bottom shape of a multi stepped air cavity planing hull

One of the most important aspects, in the ACS and multi stepped hull design, is the choice of the geometrical shape of the cavity and the steps. In this article a complete experimental and numerical campaign on a multi stepped ACS has been carried out, varying the velocity and the air flow rate under the hull. The experimental tests have been conducted in an ITTC Towing Tank allowing to validate the numerical simulations obtained by means of a CFD U-RANSe (Unesteady Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes equations) code. The CFD setup is described in detail. From this campaign a critical analysis of the Froude number influence on the air cushion shape has been argued. The authors identified four different behaviours, from low to very high Froude numbers. The use of CFD has allowed to observe quantities of difficult evaluation by means of traditional experimental test, as e.g. the frictional component of the resistance, the airflow path lines and the volume of fraction in transversal and longitudinal sections. The results have been discussed.     

PIV measurements of hull wake behind a container ship model with varying loading condition

Flow characteristics of the hull wake behind a container ship model were investigated under different loading conditions (design and ballast loadings) by employing the particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique. Measurements were made at four transverse locations and two longitudinal planes for three Reynolds numbers (Re) (=U₀Lpp/ν, where U₀ is the freestream velocity, Lpp is the length between two perpendiculars of the ship model and ν is the kinematic viscosity) of 5.08×10⁵, 7.60×10⁵, and 1.01×10⁶. It was observed that symmetric, large-scale, longitudinal counter-rotating vortices (with respect to centerline) of nearly the same strength were formed in the near wake. For the ballast-loading condition, the vortices appear at propeller plane below the propeller-boss. The vortex center exhibits a significant upward shift near the propeller-boss as the Reynolds number increase, and as the flow moves downstream. Under the design-loading condition, the vortices first appear at a further downstream location than that for the ballast-loading condition above the propeller-boss. This difference in the flow structure can significantly change the inflow conditions to the propeller blades, such as the streamwise mean velocity profiles and turbulence intensity distributions at the propeller plane. In particular, under the ballast-loading condition, asymmetric inflow may weaken the propulsion and cavitation performance of the marine propeller.     

On the planing of a flat plate at high Froude numbers in a two-dimensional case

We seek the solution of the planing of a flat plate at high Froude numbers by a perturbation procedure. The angle of attack of the plate is assumed to vary with the speed of the plate in the present study. A harmonic function K is introduced for the solution of the first-order disturbance potential which becomes the Green function in the limiting case when the Froude number tends to infinity. We get the solution of the first-order potential from Green's theorem applied to K and the first-order potential. Then we obtain the asymptotic solutions of the angle of attack α, lift L and drag D as follows:

where α1. Here W, L_W, and U are the weight of the plate per unit width, wetted length, and speed of the plate, respectively.     

On predicting boat drift for search and rescue

A theoretical model for predicting boat drift for search and rescue missions is presented in this work. The drift model is based on the law of physics which govern the motion of a floating body in a given wind and surface current field. In terms of the empirical aerodynamics force coefficients of the boat or any other drifting object, external wind field, and current field, the drift velocity of the boat being searched for can be obtained. The uncertainty of the characteristics of the boat’s drift is evaluated by interval analysis of the uncertainties of the characteristics of the drifting boat and external forcing fields. The search area expansion and the source of uncertainty are systematically evaluated. The current statistical model-based operational definitions of leeway drift, leeway rate, leeway angle, divergence angle, leeway divergence, downwind component of leeway, and crosswind component of leeway are clarified in light of the presented theoretical model. The divergence angle and leeway divergence are evaluated through the interval analysis of the uncertainty of the parameters involved.     

Design and experiment of a small boat track-keeping autopilot

A real time kinematic (RTK), GPS-based, track-keeping control of a small boat is discussed in this paper. The internal model control (IMC) method is adopted in the autopilot design and the controller is recast in the PID controller format that is characterized by its simple structure and relative ease of implementation. The track-keeping mission is achieved through a sequence of course-changing maneuvers and the reference heading is computed with the line-of-sight (LOS) guidance law. Path planning based on Bezier curves to achieve obstacle avoidance is investigated. First, computer simulations are carried out to find the feasible controller design parameter that achieves satisfactory simulation results. Then the feasible controller design parameter is applied in the small-boat-based experiments to demonstrate the practical use of the proposed autopilot design method.     

On the mechanisms behind salinity anomaly signals of the northern North Atlantic

Hydrographic time series from the northern North Atlantic throughout the 20th century show oscillations in temperature and salinity at more or less regular intervals. The Great Salinity Anomalies described during the 1970s [Dickson, R.R., Meincke, J., Malmberg, S.-A., Lee, A.J., 1988. The “Great Salinity Anomaly” in the North Atlantic, 1968-1982. Progress in Oceanography 20, 103-151.], during the 1980s [Belkin, I.M., Levitus, S., Antonov, J., Malmberg, S.-A., 1998. “Great Salinity Anomalies” in the North Atlantic. Progress in Oceanography 41, 1-68.], and during the 1990s [Belkin, I.M., 2004. Propagation of the “Great Salinity Anomaly” of the 1990s around the northern North Atlantic. Geophysical Research Letters 31(8), L08306, doi:10.1029/2003GL019334.] have distinct amplitudes, and all three of them were interpreted as low salinity anomalies propagating downstream through the anti-clockwise circulation system of the northern North Atlantic Ocean. Further inspection of time series from the Northeast Atlantic and the Northwest Atlantic over the past century shows, however, several other distinct negative anomalies of lesser amplitudes. Additionally, a number of high salinity anomalies can be identified. The present paper analyses further the propagation of the negative and positive anomalies and links them together. It is shown that they have varying speeds of propagation, and that the varying speeds are correlated across the North Atlantic. We propose that varying volume fluxes in and out of the Arctic Basin is the causal mechanism behind the anomaly signals, and that the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) partly has influence on the flux variations described. Periods of large decadal-scale amplitudes of the NAO coincide with periods of large decadal-scale oscillation in the marine climate.     

Experimental and numerical hydrodynamic analysis of a stepped planing hull

This work addresses the experimental and numerical study of a stepped planing hull and the related fluid dynamics phenomena typically occurring in the stepped hull in the unwetted aft body area behind the step. In the last few years, the interest in high-speed planing crafts, with low weight-to-power ratios, has been increasing significantly, and, in such context, naval architects have been orienting toward the stepped hull solution. Stepped planing hulls ensure good dynamic stability and seakeeping qualities at high speeds. This is mainly due to the reduction of the wetted area, which is caused by the flow separation occurring at the step. This paper presents the experimental results of towing tank tests in calm water on a single-step hull model, which is the first model of a new systematic series. The same flow conditions are analyzed via Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) and Large Eddy Simulations (LES), with different moving mesh techniques (overset/chimera and morphing grid), performed at different model speeds. The numerical results are in accordance with experimental data, and overset/chimera grid is found to be the best approach between the analyzed ones. The flow patterns obtained numerically through LES on a refined grid appear similar to the ones observed in towing tank investigations through photographic acquisitions. These flow patterns are dominated by a rather complex 3D arrangement of vortices originating from air spillage at both sides of the step. The understanding of these phenomena is important for the effectiveness of stepped hull designs.     

The differences between a wing and a planing plate in two-dimensional flow

The normal force coefficient on a flat planing surface having arbitrary heave and pitch motion in two-dimensional flow is compared with the lift coefficient of a thin wing in an infinite fluid. Despite the totally different derivations, they are found to be identical (at large Froude numbers and low trim angles and allowing for the wing's interaction with twice as much fluid) at low reduced frequencies. For higher frequency motions, the wing's angle of attack induced lift and its pitch and heave damping are less than those of a planing surface, but the acceleration terms remain identical. The differences at the higher reduced frequencies are due to the fact that, in invisad irrotational flow, the planning plate cannot leave a vortex wake, whereas a wing does.It seems to follow that the “virtual mass” planing hull analysis can be applied to “quasi-static” problems involving wings and bodies in an infinite fluid without the slenderness restriction originally imposed by Jones (1946). Certainly, it is remarkable that the so called “quasi-steady” forces on a two-dimensional wing can be obtained in a few lines of elementary analysis. On the other hand, the method fails entirely when used to compute the pitching moment on a two-dimensional plate, even though it has been found to give good results for the three-dimensional case (Payne, 1981c).This work is offered as a very incomplete study of an intriguing relationship between two very different bodies of analysis. Much more work will need to be done before the relationship between the two approaches will be fully understood.     

The dynamic force on a two-dimensional planing plate of arbitrary camber

The thin wing methodology of Llewelyn (1964) is employed to calculate the pressure distribution of a two-dimensional cambered planing plate behind the stagnation line. A simplification of the jet flow in front of the stagnation line, solved exactly by Pierson and Leshnover (1949) and generalized to the case of arbitrary camber by Payne (1980) is then “patched on” to give the complete solution.Although the resulting pressure distributions can in principle be integrated analytically to find the normal force, pressure drag and pitching moment, the result is very cumbersome. It is simpler to integrate numerically on a computer. The paper presents examples obtained using this approach.     

Modal analysis of a fast patrol boat made of composite material

The structural dynamic behaviour of a fast patrol boat is studied with two- and three-dimensional idealizations for dry-hull analysis. A preliminary two-dimensional beam analysis is conducted by means of the Prohl-Myklestad method to derive a first estimate of the first four symmetric mode shapes. A more complex three-dimensional finite element model is developed in order to evaluate the modal characteristics for both symmetric and coupled anti-symmetric distortions, with the emphasis placed on the former.     

On the modeling of two-dimensional segmented representations of cable shape

Two-dimensional pre-elimination cable models are presented and assessed in relation to existing lumped mass and rod models. It is shown that the rod model enjoys certain modeling and numerical advantages not shared by the lumped mass model. Conditions for the lumped mass and rod models to produce equivalent cable configurations are illustrated with examples from the literature.     

Hydroelastic optimisation of a composite marine propeller in a non-uniform wake

The purpose of this paper is to optimise the hydroelastic performance of a composite marine propeller to reduce vibration and dynamic stress. A hydroelasticity method based on the finite element method (FEM) coupled with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is used to simulate the composite marine propeller in a non-uniform wake. Composite blades can be considered as a cantilever-like laminated structure experiencing an unsteady hydrodynamic load and centrifugal force. The objective of the improved design is to minimise the vibratory hub loads. The ply angle and stacking sequence are considered as the design variables. The nonlinear periodic transient responses and vibration hub loads of the composite blade are obtained by solving coupled equations using the Newton–Raphson numerical procedure. Compared to the starting design of the propeller, the optimum solution results in a 49.6–70.6% reduction of the 7/rev hub loads.