Correct evaluation of rudder performance is a key issue in assessing ship maneuverability. This paper presents a simplified approach based on a viscous flow solver to address propeller and rudder interactions. Viscous flow solvers have been applied to this type of problems, but the large computational requests limit (or even prevent) their application at a preliminary ship design stage. Based on this idea, a simplified approach to include the propeller effect in front of the rudder is considered to speed up the solution. Based on the concept of body forces, this approach enables sufficiently fast computation for a preliminary ship design stage, thereby maintaining its reliability. To define the limitations of the proposed procedure, an extensive analysis of the simplified method is performed and the results are compared with experimental data presented in the literature. Initially, the reported results show the capability of the body-force approach to represent the inflow field to the rudder without the full description of the propeller, also with regard to the complex bollard pull condition. Consequently, the rudder forces are satisfactorily predicted at least with regard to the lift force. However, the drag force evaluation is more problematic and causes higher discrepancies. Nevertheless, these discrepancies may be accepted due to their lower influence on the overall ship maneuverability performance.

Ship resistance issues are related to fuel economy, speed, and cost efficiency. Air lubrication is a promising technique for lowering hull frictional resistance as it is supposed to modify the energy in the turbulent boundary layer and thereby reduce hull friction. In this paper, the objective is to identify the optimum type of air lubrication using microbubble drag reduction (MBDR) and air layer drag reduction (ALDR) techniques to reduce the resistance of a 56-m Indonesian self-propelled barge (SPB). A model with the following dimensions was constructed:length L=2000 mm, breadth B=521.60 mm, and draft T=52.50 mm. The ship model was towed using standard towing tank experimental parameters. The speed was varied over the Froude number range 0.11-0.31. The air layer flow rate was varied at 80, 85, and 90 standard liters per minute (SLPM) and the microbubble injection coefficient over the range 0.20-0.60. The results show that the ship model using the air layer had the highest drag reduction up to a maximum of 90%. Based on the characteristics of the SPB, which operates at low speed, the optimum air lubrication type to reduce resistance in this instance is ALDR.

Bottom ventilated cavitation is the successfully proven ship drag reduction technology, but the impact of sea waves on ships with bottom cavities is the substantial concern for a broad technology implementation. The influence of waves on vertical force experienced by such ships is analyzed in this paper using a perturbation technique. The unperturbed cavity shape at given Froude number and cavity length was found from a nonlinear steady ideal fluid problem. The ship response to an impact of a wave of the given length and amplitude is considered as the one-frequency perturbation. This perturbation was found by combined consideration of compressible flow in the cavity and incompressible flow in the surrounding water. Computational examples relate to an earlier tested model with the bottom cavity restricted by skegs. The vertical forces on the model with bottom cavities and in cavitation-free conditions were compared in head and following seas. It was found that within the major part of the consider range of wavelengths the cavity acts as a shock absorber significantly reducing the vertical force pulsation and ship acceleration in waves.

In this study, we focused on a novel parallel mechanism for utilizing the motion simulator of a high-speed boat (HSB). First, we expressed the real behavior of the HSB based on a seakeeping trial. For this purpose, we recorded the motion parameters of the HSB by gyroscope and accelerometer sensors, while using a special data acquisition technique. Additionally, a Chebychev highpass filter was applied as a noise filter to the accelerometer sensor. Then, a novel 3 degrees of freedom (DoF) parallel mechanism (1T2R) with prismatic actuators is proposed and analyses were performed on its inverse kinematics, velocity, and acceleration. Finally, the inverse dynamic analysis is presented by the principle of virtual work, and the validation of the analytical equations was compared by the ADAMS simulation software package. Additionally, according to the recorded experimental data of the HSB, the feasibility of the proposed novel parallel mechanism motion simulator of the HSB, as well as the necessity of using of the washout filters, was explored.

In 1994, Townend proposed a method to calculate the relative changes in various wave characteristics and structure-related parameters due to sea level rise for regular waves. The method was extended to irregular waves by Cheon and Suh in 2016. In this study, this method is further extended to include the effect of future change in offshore wave height and the sea level rise. The relative changes in wavelength, refraction coefficient, shoaling coefficient, and wave height in nearshore area are presented as functions of the relative changes in water depth and offshore wave height. The calculated relative changes in wave characteristics are then used to estimate the effect of sea level rise and offshore wave height change on coastal structures by calculating the relative changes in wave run-up height, overtopping discharge, crest freeboard, and armor weight of the structures. The relative changes in wave characteristics and structure-related parameters are all expressed as a function of the relative water depth for various combinations of the relative changes in water depth and offshore wave height.

In this study, the performance of a contra rotating vertical-axis tidal-current turbine was investigated. The incompressible unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (U-RANS) equations were solved via two-dimensional (2D) numerical simulation using ANSYS Fluent computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code. An algorithm known as SIMPLE from the CFD code was used to calculate the pressure-velocity coupling and second-order finite-volume discretization for all the transport equations. The base turbine model was validated using the available experimental data. Three given scenarios for the contra rotating turbine were modeled. The contra rotating turbine performs better in a low tip speed ratio (TSR) than in a high TSR operation. In a high TSR operation, the contra rotating turbine inefficiently operates, surviving to rotate in the chaotic flow distribution. Thus, it is recommended to use contra rotating turbine as a part of new design to increase the performance of a vertical-axis tidal-current turbine with a lower TSR.

Temporal fluctuations in vertical thermocline structure and depth span (on a time scale of 30 to 40 min) are shown to affect the arrival angle, and focusing of measured broadband (22-28 kHz) non-surface-interacting acoustic signals at a depth of~100 m. Measurements were taken in the Pacific Missile Range Facility near Kauai island, Hawaii, for a source-receiver range of 1.0 km. The arrival time and angular spread of acoustic beams are obtained for measured signals using a plane wave beamformer with a-prior gaussian weighting. The weighting process reduces ambiguity in angular measurements due to spatial aliasing from a vertical array with element spacing d much greater than half the acoustic wavelength ((λ_a)/2) of the highest frequency in the broadband signal. Over two full periods of thermocline oscillation, 2 times of high and 2 times of low isotherm depth are selected to show fluctuations in angular beam spreading, focusing, and the robustness of the weighted beamformer routine. To benchmark the performance of the weighted beamformer, a twodimensional (2D) Parabolic Equation (PE) model calculates the angular signal spread and focusing using parameters to satisfy spatial sampling requirements for broadband beamforming. In the absence of spatial aliasing, beamforming the output of the 2D PE can be conducted without weighting. Comparison of measured and modeled results shows less than a degree of difference in the angular beam spread of direct, bottom reflected, and refracted paths. It is shown that a vertical array with d >>((λ_a)/2) and gaussian weighting can resolve changes in angular spread and beam focusing as a function of vertical isotherm displacement.

To overcome the current difficulties of high-precision machining and the high manufacturing and maintenance costs of spherical seals for deep-water drilling ball joints, a new spherical seal technique is proposed in this paper. The spherical seal is mainly composed of silicone rubber and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). Rational structural design makes the seal independent from the ball and other components, making it easy to replace if leakage occurs at its surface. PTFE can elastically deform over a certain deformation range, which guarantees that two sealing surfaces fit tightly together. O-Ring and PTFE elasticity makes up for any lack of accuracy during spherical machining and decreases the machining precision requirements for spherical surfaces. Using a finite element technique and nonlinear theory, the performance of the spherical seal under the influence of various factors is determined. The results show that the spherical seal designed in this paper exhibits excellent sealing performance under lowtemperature and high-pressure conditions. The spherical seal, a combination of an O-ring and PTFE, has the advantages of cheap manufacturing and maintenance costs and excellent sealing performance.

Submerged vanes are installed on rivers and channel beds to protect the outer bank bends from scouring. Also, local scouring occurs around the submerged vanes over time, and identifying the effective factors on the scouring phenomena around these submerged vanes is one of the important issues in river engineering. The most important aim of this study is investigation of scour pattern around submerged vanes located in 180° bend experimentally and numerically. Firstly, the effects of various parameters such as the Froude number (Fr), angle of submerged vanes to the flow (α), angle of submerged vane location in the bend (θ), distance between submerged vanes (d), height (H), and length (L) of the vanes on the dimensionless volume of the scour hole were experimentally studied. The submerged vanes were installed on a 180° bend whose central radius and channel width were 2.8 and 0.6 m, respectively. By reducing the Froude number, the scour hole volume decreased. For all Froude numbers, the biggest scour hole formed at θ=15°. In all models, by increasing the Froude number, the scour hole volume significantly increases. In addition, by increasing the submerged vanes’ length and height, the scour hole dimensions also grow. Secondly, using gene expression programming (GEP), a relationship for determining the scour hole volume around the submerged vanes was provided. For this model, the determination coefficients (R²) for the training and test modes were computed as 0.91 and 0.9, respectively. In addition, this study performed partial derivative sensitivity analysis (PDSA). According to the results, the PDSA was calculated as positive for all input variables.

Beaches along the eastern branch of the Giens double tombolo are subject to coastal erosion. Prediction of the behavior of the beach profile configuration in response to natural and anthropogenic changes using the concept of equilibrium beach profile (EBP) could be useful in finding the most suitable measure to address the erosion problem. Field investigation data of 11 beaches along the eastern tombolo were supplied for this study, and a nonlinear fitting technique was applied to estimate the best parameter values of seven empirical formulations of the relevant EBP. All of the observed beach profiles could be described by a single function, but a single EBP was inadequate to represent all of the beach profiles observed. The variation found could be explained in terms of longshore variation of bathymetry, sediment size, and wave parameters. Analysis of the validity of the EBPs revealed that a representative EBP of each beach is governed by different equilibrium parameters.

The present study examines scour geometry and turbulent flow characteristics around circular and oblong piers in alluvial channel with downward seepage. Experiments were conducted in plane sand bed of non-uniform sand under no seepage, 10% seepage and 15% seepage conditions. Scour depth at oblong pier is significantly lesser than the scour depth at circular one. However, the scour depth at both piers reduces with downward seepage. The measurements show that the velocity and Reynolds stresses are negative near the bed at upstream of piers where the strong reversal occurs. At downstream of oblong pier near the free surface, velocity and Reynolds stresses are less positive; whereas, they are negative at downstream of circular pier. The streamline shape of oblong pier leads to reduce the strength of wake vortices and consequently reversal flow at downstream of pier. With application of downward seepage turbulent kinetic energy is decreasing. The results show that the wake vortices at oblong pier are weaker than the wake vortices at circular pier. The strength of wake vortices diminishes with downward seepage. The Strouhal number is lesser for oblong pier and decreases with downward seepage for both oblong and circular piers.

The objective of this paper is to study the nonlinear coupling internal resonance of the heave, roll, and pitch response performance of a spar platform when their frequencies are in the ratio of 2:1:1 under wave and vortex exciting loads. The three degree-of-freedom (DOF) nonlinear coupled equations are established by considering a time-varying wet surface with a first-order wave force in heave and pitch and a vortex-induced force in roll. The first-order steady-state response is solved using the multi-scale method in heave main resonance. The multiple solutions of the motion equations are discussed using the analytic method and a numerical simulation. A sensitivity analysis is conducted to test the influence of the damping and internal detuning parameter. The regions of multiple solutions are found, and the jump phenomenon exists with the changes of the wave excitation. The regions of multiple solutions depend on the values of damping and detuning parameter.

A novel type of control law was adopted to reduce the vertical acceleration of a fast ferry as well as the motion sickness incidence suffered by the passengers onboard by means of a submerged T-foil. Considering the system changing characteristics under high disturbances, a model-free approach was adopted. In addition, an upgraded proportional-derivative (PD) controller with correction terms resulting from a fast-online estimation of the system dynamics was designed. The overall controller, known as intelligent PD (i-PD) controller, was tested, and the obtained results were compared with those of a classic PD controller. The controllers were also tested in a changing environment and at different operating velocities. The results confirmed the effectiveness of the i-PD controller to smooth the motions with low computational cost control schemes. Furthermore, thanks to ability of the i-PD controller to continually update the estimated dynamics of the system, it showed a better reduction in both vertical motions and the seasickness level of the passengers with the needed robustness under external disturbances and system changing parameters.