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Private Ones Or: A Paper For Presentation at The January 21., and Marine Engineers
Private Ones Or: A Paper For Presentation at The January 21., and Marine Engineers
SEAWORTHINESS PROBL4
IN
BY
Seabury C. McGown
Abstract
1. Introduction.
The ship designer and to a lesser extent the boat designer has been
aided in recent years by model basin testing. However for the most part
this has only contributed to improvements in smooth water resistance. The
improvements thüs made are helpful allowing either greater speed or a
reduction in the power required. Some work has been done in model basins
to assess seaworthiness of small craft in rough water. It is expensive
and to date very little has been done. Although it will probably
eventnhly have a great influence on small craft design it has not yet
become a significant factor. This has left the problems of seakeeping and
seaworthiness to be resolved for the most part by analysis of rough water
trials of full scale craft. This has the major drawback of beIng slow and.
in general not systematic. Very few custcrs wish to risk their money on
¡
novel hifll forms and. the desier is forced to be conservative and make
srll changes at a t1Tn He also has very few opportunities to make thorough
evaluations of the changes he does make.
2. Requirements.
b She should have moderate motions of pitch and roll. She must
be stable but if possible not have a quick period. of roll such ai to throw
passengers about.
c. She should pound and. slam as little as possible for the comfort
and safety of the passengers, and. to reduce the impact loads on the hull struc-
ture, machinery and other equipment.
2
e. She must be directionally stable with a mininum tendency
to yaw
nd. broach, and yet she must also be maneuverable
at Rh speeds and in all
sas.
3
3. Approaches to Solutions.
1.
L
, 7 5 f, L
F1uR i
of high speed boats the asset of length has been appreciated for a long
time. If a boat does not depend upon planing principles to allow high
speeds, the only alternative is to reduce the residn1 resistance. It is
an important tool today and was even more important 0 years ago before the
advent of fully planning boats. Since residual resistance is a direct
function of the speed/length ratio and the displacement, the obvious
solution is a low displacement/length ratio.
Long before the reasons for this were clearly understood, high
speed boats were dèsied on this principle. Thus was produced the typical
slender easily driven hull form of low wave-making resistance. .This type
cannot be driven beyond a speed/length ratio (/fJ of l.5without special
treathent of the afterbody providing a broad transom stern with flat
buttock lines. Beyond a speed/length ratio of 2.0 this form will be in a
semi-planing condition and the hull must be desied to promote this
planning, however the form will still be priimirily based upon producing
a form of low residual resistance. The practical maxiinumV/Cis somewhat
less than .0 depending upon how low a displacement/length ratio is used.
A well known example of this type of boat are some IB types such as
shown in figure 1.
2. Fully Planing.Types..
2
32 B4-B 3 z. o
LoA
63 F1 AB
FIGURE 2
1:&.
efficient aspect ratio is generally wider than a comparable displacement
boat. From a resistance standpoint it is desirable, within limits, to
decrease length/beam ratio with increases in speed. An example of a
ty-pical planing boat is the USN - 63 ft. RB shown in figure 2.
The usual arguments for the round bottom, semi-planing form are that
although it may be limited in top speed in calm water it will out perform
nrd chine fully planing types in rough water and be more economical
at lower cruising speeds. There is considerable evidence to back this (t
up. On the basis of equal displacement and approximately equal cost,
i
the more slender semi-planing type can be built 20% to 30% longer than 'I
f
D5OoC
/
o Io .zo
k 01-s 40
A D o
IOOo
/
A
V
/
400
cL
i C
tile
2O 4o
PAGE 6fL.
CO1'1PARISON 0F NODT.S
Hull A
COMPARISON OF MODELS
Hull A
//
46e'
CÀL-t //:-
¿
2irwc
1oTO
4oa
36°
/
/ /
27
o T- - 1.
i6° I7,o
30 3'- 46
Ñ TS
F) 4
PA
HA EM
Ar L..VJL WD YF
3 A
Viii-;: F1 -
o
So 40
D io1
4
L'TH -rvJtc.e. 51IP ¿JGrH
FuE 5
AE 74
QLLOJ ifrU /4 TE. -7- '
-J
SoAc'- C
'I' -
rnu'
'k'
- 3
'u
3
4 l\ \ \'
sJo C/-i
15
o 1,0
H'
FGL-
Figures 4,5, & 6 simmiarize the test results. Figure 4 does
not show the curves below 30 lmots however from the slope of the curves at
30 aiots it can be expected that the specific resistance of A is
considerably lees than B from O-30 kts.
d. Choice of Type.
8
it is obvious that the fully planing type is the logical choice. Thus
dispite Its drawhacks in the area of seaworthiness, there are good and
sound ±easons why the hard chine type must be used for many designs and
the seaworthiness problem must be accepted.
9
and many other coefficients associated with chine boats attache a great
deal of importance to the beam at the chines. From a purely resistance
point of view this is correct since there is generally a particular
L/ which is optimum for a given speed. Optim beam will generally
increaêe with speed until very high speeds are reached and then the
optimum beam reduces. The determination of optimum beoni for low resistance
is important, however almost all the work to date has been based upon low
resistance in calm water without due regard to the effect of beam on
seaworthiness. Contrary to the requirements for low calm water resistance,
in rough water the beam should often be somewhat reduced to provide improved
seaworthiness qil ities.
b. Deadrise.
The shape of the sides above the chine has no effect on the
10
/7
calm water resistance and only a secondary effect upon rough water
performance. However it can be seen that liberal flare and some(fl.i)
will enchance the seakeeping of the boat and will provide greater buoyancy
to lift the bow when plunging into an ahead or following sea. This will
benefit dryness and help to aleviate the tendency to broach in the
following sea condition.
Forefoot.
Length, Loading.
LS' 2- i-
A
2
I- TZ / .' J
1
2 Q
, o O a_TL.ip
?-
Jt-t4
/- o AJt p
í. ArJ
I
o
I' O O
2'
.2'
3c,
7 3
3
a) L»1 -t
/PvJ)( 4
4
¡I 4
k! O í i. 3 -
-6- - 2 ----
31
2. - 2 /t 40 -----'.
'-'r-- '---L 3 4.
/_
_4Ç_
3 -L
J--
/7
I
/ - T.I/L.S
20
24C)°
2200
ri
C!
o
= 4c0
liDo
¡000
6c'o
;700
¡o 14- 22. 2. 30 4 38 4t
SPEED -Jo-r5
F1&u. a
b
Js for minimum 8llowable length it is desirable to keep the
displacement/length ratio below 200 if possible. The author has worked
on designs with displacement/length ratios of over 300 but this is
definitely not ari economical loading and far from desirable. The corn-
pansons shown in figures 7 and 8 (from reference 5) give a good idea
of the advantages of length in reducing the slamming impacts iii rough
water and the lower power required with lower loading.
f. Sections.
g. Spray I.âils.
12
They definitely contribute greatly to dryness and their use is desirable
on all high speed boats. Reference 6 is an interesting report of com-
parative model tests evaluating the use of spray rails on a number of
small craft.
h. Skegs.
Skegs are sometimes used on high speed small craft. The usual.
purpose is to improve directional stability. They also may be used
to counterbalance the effects of a deep forefoot to move the center of
lateral plane aft of midships.
j. Transom Width.
j. Twist.
r..,1, .
Some authorities place a great importance upon having a
-ìaximti of twist or warp in the after helf of the bottom which is the main
plañing surface. The arguments are based upon lower calm water resistance.
Comparisons of a number of model test results seem to confirm that an
aftorbody which is nearly a prismatic surface has the least resistance.
13
-I
Moro importanthowever, than low resistance1is the fact that as argued
above it is desirable from a seaworthiness standpoint to carry relatively
high deairise the full length of boat and this automatically precludes
any appreciable twist in the afterbody planes.
k. Wedges.
Transom wedges, hooked buttocks or transom flaps are Fill
used to reduce dynamic trim. Wedges are generally used as corrective
devices to help a heavily loaded boat over the resistance htrap at the
early planing speeds and to reduce trim at high speed to reduce slamming.
Hooked buttocks or buttocks with reverse in the last 10% of length are
simply premeditated wedges used for the same purpose.
Transom flaps serve the same purposes but they have the
feature of being adjustable to suit the speed, loading condition and
sea state. The adjustable feature muces the transom flap the most
useful of the three devices, However it has the drawback of requiring
flat or nearly fJt deadrise at the transom. This requirement runs
counter to the desirability of having good deadrise at the transom.
The unpredictable affect of hooked buttocks precludes their
use unless the subject lines are a redo of previous successful lines,
or the lines are model tested. Adjustable transom flaps must be ruled
out if deadrise is to be used at the transom. This leaves wedges as the
only practical device for most cases,and their use is generally limited
to corrective measures rather than ieatures of an original design.
2. Analysis of Conventional Forms.
On the basis of the above discussion a critique can be made of the
effect of these features on some actiìl hull forms. The following are some
conventional hull forais.
a. Typical Developed Surface Type.
The typical developed surface type is used in many pleasure
boats to about 40 ft. LOA and some larger commercial craft. It has
the very desirable feature of being adaptable to easy forming with large
sheets of plywood, steel or aluminum. Figure 9 represents a good
example of this type.
Reference 7 and figure 1 of reference U report the
resistance characteristics of this form and reference 8 reports the
resistance characteristics of a wider beam version including a comparison
of the two.
14
-(P4L PEYELOPED UQ/E
FGuaE 9
j40
This type of form is very good for small craft operating in
protected water. It combines good calm water resistance with limited rough
water qualities. Its major drawback is low deadrise which causes
pounding in rough water. If trim is reduced to reduce pounding it
becomés wet and is more difficult to steer since the full sections
forward being full and buoyant tend to be pushed first to one side
and then the other when encountering head or following seas. A sub-
stantial increase in deadrise would increase resistance but would do a
lot to improve seaworthiness. For speed/length ratios under 5 a narrower
transom could be used to advantage.
Although the primary reason for the 80 ft. boat -was to have
a bigger boat to carry a heavier load, a dimensionless comparison
shows the effects of the difference in length/beam ratio. Reference 9
reports the calm water resistance of the two at an equal dimensionless
loading coefficient. The wider boat as would be expected has higher
specific resistance at the lower h1f of the speed range and lower
specific resistance at higher speeds except at the highest speeds. The
important point of this is that the calm water resistance is very much the
same for the two. Thus at the designed speed the narrower boat with
greater deadrise does not lose much in calm water speed while it has
improved seaworthiness characteristics having greater deadrise and
narrower beam. Both boats are fairly dry due to the concave sections.
The major drawback of both boats is that they do not have enough
deadrise.
The 80 ft. boat was an improvement over the 70 ft. boat and
although designed some 20 years ago, it is typical of many current vee
bottoni designs, although for practical purposes most smaller boats
do not have as narrow a transom. The raised height of the chine
forward is helpful allowing greater deadrise without any pronounced
forefoot, both of which are good. However this type of hull still
does not have as much deadrise as is desired for rough water service and it is
not carried through to the transom which would improve directional
stability el-iminating any requirement for a skeg.
15
70 Fr ELCO PT
Io
FIctWE Io
o
7 7.4,
SOFT LCO PT
40' AU (.'L)
FIUR ¡2.
c. Seaworthiness of convention forms.
16
INVTD VEE .oTToM AVR
Fiva
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TZ.JL5 i 4'-.' ,I4vE5 ç.J!rH OCCA5!O1.,IAL UIiiD Z-3ö
5EA 44 /t
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y
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i
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ta
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PtA i6
In surmary the inverted-vee bottom is not adaptable for
use offshore in rough water. This conclusion is fully doctuented by the
full report of some rough water trials described in reference 5.
This type of form may have slightly more resistance than one
with less twist but it nevertheless is quite popular. The reasons for
its popularity are quite obvious. The fine bow sections slice nicely
into seas, tl concave sections throw the bow wave clear giving
unusuiiy good dryness and the high death'ise in the s1anning area
cushions out pounding in ii but the roughest seas, and the flat sections
aft produce lift to reduce trim at high speeds and thus aids in re-
ducing pounding. All these features tend to produce a fairly nice
riding hurt form.
17.
L'L
G
4 ,- L4
+5_F 4VR
FIGURE i
-
c. Nonoheth'on Forni.
d. Clement Form.
3.8
3t 13g 61 C 3
OOHEJOÑ Fti
FLUE ri
O
CLEMEf'JT FoR1»1
FlL),E ¡8
Unfortunately no full scale craft has ever, been built
using the Clement form and the model has never been iested waves,
therefore no data is available to evaluate the seaworthiness qia1ition
of this form. However it must be recognized that this form was developed
primarily for low caJ.m water resistance anddespite the designers allegatiar43
to the contrary,it is this author's opinion that this form would be
guite unsatisfactory in rough water. Nber one, for the sake of
planing efficiency it has very low deadrise in the slaxini..ng area of the
bottom, and secondly the wide chine beam in the forward portion of the
hull would aggravate slanning and would be wet and resistful when
heading into a short sea.
It can be seen fran the lines plan that this form bears
some resemblance to figures 17 and 18 above but that the form in
figure 19 has a more seakindly bow and less beam than either of the
others. The lack of pronounced forefoot and the constant deadrise of
the afterbody lend themselves to good directioni1 stability, the deadrise
at the transom is good for turning. The drawback of this form is that
although the deadrise is liberal by conventional standards, it is still
not enough to eJiixiinate seveipou.nding in rough water.
Hunter Form.
19
COW5ThJT DR - CÖJ N1flolJ1L poPÖ12rlotJ
4 z. I o
¡7'/O' LOIA
FlUE g
N
This author has never ridden in a boat of this type but on
the basis of the Lcwing reports in references 15a - 15g there is no
doubt that this fi'Ii proven itself as an outstandin rough water
performer. An analysis of t1 lines plan will explain the features
which contribute to the seaworthiness of this type.
The Hunter has deep deadrise of 23° to 25° over the entire
riding surface which provides a substantial reduction of slaning
impact and gives good directional stability. Normally high deairise
of this sort will cause transverse instability with a tendency to ride
over on one side, unless the VC G is extrely low. Also a high
deadrise planing surface is not usiiy an efficient enough planing
surface for a boat intended for very high speeds. However the Hunter
form overcomes both of these drawbacks by the use of a rnnnber of
longitudinal spray strips on the bottom with a wedge shaped cross section
giving a horizontal lower surface about 2 inches wide. These
longitudinal spray strips provide the necessarynanvc transverse
stability and greatly increase the planing efficiency. They also give
a high measure of dryness and reduce the wetted surface to a minimum. A
comparison of trirfls of Hunter form boats with the model basin resistance
characteristics of the Clement form of figure 17 indicate that in respect
to resistance t1 Hunter form is as good or better than the Clement form.
20
HUNTER Fo1
FiUR 2
2Ö
w
g. Planing Catnran.
A rather novel approach to the high speed seaworthiness
problem is the planing catamaran. There are a nimber of current designs,
all of th quite recent, for p1ing catmans. One promising Lype is
shown in figure 21.
As can be seen from the lines plan this particular design
consists basically of two rigidly connected slender hulls whose planing
siirfaces are similar to water skis. The division of the planing surface
into 2 separate pieces 1low the use of narrow flat planing surfaces which
although flat are slender enough when taken separately that 1 nmming
impacts are not too severe. The slenderness of the individual hulls
allows them to slice through waves.
To date this type of hull form has been used only for rather
nll outboard runabouts and there is therefore not much to base a
judgement upon regarding the adaptability of this type for off shore use.
flowever the small boats of this type have done well in marathon races in
competition with conventional boats of the same size (see reference 15c).
Bascd upon trial comparisons of 18' manned modela of boats
to the lines of figure 21 and a figure 19, the resistance of figure 21 is
slightly less than figure 19. This points up the efficiency of the
flat laning surfaces. In an 18" short chop the catamaran did not pound.
1hereas the more conventional boat of figure 19 would occasionally slam.
However the catrniran was constantly in motion bouncing along and
occasionally was momentarily lifted by aerodynamic lift on the tunnel
roof, and would then come down with a slight jolt. This was a cyclical
sequence of motions and although the motions are not severe, they are
constant.
Further impression based upon uxiconclusive testing indicates
that this type of catamaran requires rather low displacement/length ratio
and c.g. located well aft. In regard to a1aniiig it can be expected
that in really rough going the flat skis and perhaps the tt.mnel roof would
be subject to rather severe impacts and would produce objectionable
alarming.
In regard to inaneuveability, the catamaran does not bank. The
lateral plane being effectively twice that of a conventional hull makes
steering by means of throttle differentil with twin screws desirable
in conjunction with conventionsl steering.
21
i
PLAkj,Ñ CATAMA2AkJ
FL)2.E 2A
p
g. Plum Boat.
Jill of the hull forms discussed above are of the stepless type,
with continuous buttock lines. At higher planing speeds the stepless
type has a lPrge superfluous wetted area required only for proper long-
itudinal support.
Mr. Plum's boat has a hull in plan view similar to the Clement
shown in figure 18 above except that the transom is even narrower having
chine beam at station 9 approximately one-half the maximum chine beam. The
naximum chine beam is at station 3. The main step in the form of a wedge
is located just aft of station 5 and the buttocks aft of the wedge 1ise at
about 40. The adjustable planing surface, or stabilizer, at the stern, is
connected to a pneumatic piston in the hull in such a way that its
vertical position can be controlled by compressed air. At low speeds the
stailizer is held close to the hull at an angle equal to that of the
after body keel. At high speeds the stabilizer is lowered and its angle
ehanged: athat it is approximately parallel to the forebody keel. At high
speeds 'the boat planes on a small area forward of the main step and on the
after portion of the stabilizer. The trim angle of the hull can be adjusted
by the pilot by changing the vertical height of the stabilizer. l4hen lowered,
the stabilizer is free to rotate in an approxiate1y horizontal plane about the
piston which connects it to the hull. This gives the stabilizer a caster
action which makes it trail whether the hull is on a straight course of
turning.
22
The model tests have shown that the Plum design has exceptionally
low calm water resistance at high speeds, and that it efficiency is not
appreciably affected by changes in C.G. location. It is expected that
the trim control made possible by the unique adjustable stern planing
surface will pillow a reduction in pounding in rough water by lowering
angle of attack of the main forward 1aning surface. This will not of
course elim-i nate all slamming, but it should be an improvement.
There are a number of uses today for high speed srn11 craft. The
usefulness of these boats is unfortunately lmted by the lack of
seaworthiness of many boats designed for high speed. The factors
contributing to attainment of high speeds have beexi given a great deal of
emphasis, but improvements in seaworthiness have not paralleled the im-
provements in speed. There are certain conflicts between the requirenucs
for high speed and seaworthiness. To date most progress toward solution of
these conflicts has been by trial and error on a case basis, which is by
nature a slow evolution. The optiniu hull form has by no means been
developed.
23
Solutions Other Than Hull Form.
This paper has discussed hull form only. Outside of the general
area of hull form two very promising developments hold great prnmse of
providing seaworthy high speed small craft. These are as follows: Hydrofoil
support and air cushion, suDoot; Small seaworthy small craft capable of high
speeds in open water have been developed using fully subnerged foil systems in
conjunction with electronic flight control devices; and surface percing foil
systems iing foil geometry as the primary flight control device. Both
of these configurations have been sufficiently developed to the point
where the technical feasibility and the superior rough water pformance
are now proven facts. The one ajor drawback is expense and a minor
drawback is that except for some retractable configuratiorithe draft and
beam of the foils is not easily adaptable to many small boât facilities.
Air cushion support has not been developed for use on rnall craft
to any great extent. It can be expected that as general developments
are mañe in air support systems that adaptation for use on high speed
small craft will a logical application since the basic features of low
water resistance and smooth motions are inherent to this type of support.
Future Prospects.
24
fr
Rerences
1
Curry, J. H.; "Experimental Boat-Hull Form test Program, Scheme "J"
Model 4310, Resistance Characteristicstt; DTMB Report No.
1950.
738, 0ctob
".A Redly Fast Fast Cruiser".; pg 341+ - 346, The Motor Boat and Yachting
(Magazine, British), July 1960.