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High Performance Marine Vessels wwwwwwwwwww Liang Yun Alan Bliault ● High Performance Marine Vessels Liang Yun Alan Bliault Marine Design and Research A.S Norske Shell Institute of China Sola, Norway Shanghai, China ISBN 978-1-4614-0868-0 e-ISBN 978-1-4614-0869-7 DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-0869-7 Springer New York Dordrecht Heidelberg London Library of Congress Control Number: 2012932303 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012 All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identifi ed as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) Preface Speed is not simply about velocity in air or water but should be considered in context with its purpose and the tools available. Until recently in historical terms, the motive power available for travel over the water was manpower itself or wind. Over many centuries sailing vessels have been refi ned so that they could harness more of its power effi ciently, and reach higher into an oncoming wind so as to perform a more direct route to the objective. The wind is not available to order nevertheless, and so “speed” achieved is not constant. The invention of reciprocating engines, initially steam driven, made a step change for maritime transport, just as it did on land a little over two centuries ago. It changed the meaning of speed over water, since not only could a vessel be designed to travel directly to its destination, but also could transport much greater payloads than possible previously, and could deliver independent of the weather environment. In the fi rst century of powered marine craft, speeds increased from around 20 knots to about double that. At such speed, there are challenges even for large craft due to rapid increase of drag on the hull if a boat continues to try to push its way through. The propeller driving such a vessel also loses effi ciency due to a phe- nomenon known as cavitation unless specially designed to harness it. In the early part of the twentieth century, pioneering engineers conquered both problems and developed planing craft that could travel much faster by skimming over the water surface. The racing fraternity that grew in this period took things to the limit and produced craft that were in danger of fl ying if a stray gust of wind should hit. Commercial and military craft have not tested these boundaries quite so close, even though in the last half century service speeds for passenger ferry transport have doubled. The search for more speed—humanity has a tendency always to seek more—has been enabled through increasingly effi cient and lightweight power plants such as high-speed diesels and gas turbine engines, and lighter and stronger structural mate- rials (aluminium alloy, GRP, titanium alloy), that have enabled designers of fast boats, hydrofoils, and air-cushion craft to develop performance close to physical limits of speed in a seaway. v vi Preface In the last 30 years or so, a revolution in electronics has given us the possibility for automated stabilization of motions that was simply not possible before, together with big strides in power plant effi ciency, not to mention satellite navigation. These have been important enablers to comfort at higher speed and high-speed vessel development. A series of new variations of high-speed craft or high-performance marine vessels (HPMV) have been developed in the last half century, including improved planing monohull craft from the 1940s, hydrofoils from the 1950s air-cushion vehicles and surface effect ships from the 1960s, small water plane area twin hull craft from the 1970s, high-speed catamarans from the 1980s, wave piercing craft from the 1990s, high-speed trimarans in the fi rst decade of twenty-fi rst century, and wing in ground effect craft from 1970s to the present. These various concepts and the hybrids that we will describe form an interacting group of vehicle concepts. Designers, scientists, and various organizations both commercial, military and governmental have dedicated resources over the last century, and particularly heav- ily in the last 50 years to fi nd ways that combinations of the hull geometries, hydrofoils, and static or dynamic air cushions can be used to deliver speedy vessels that can perform very challenging missions. This work continues, still strongly driven by military objectives, and increasingly now by energy effi ciency and environmental impact rather than simply the mission envelope defi ned by speed/payload/ environment/range. A product such as a high-speed marine vessel can only be successful if it is able to fulfi l a market requirement in an appropriate way. To deliver people or cargo effi ciently, there must be a timing fi t, often with other transportation linking in at each end of the mission. This applies in the military environment just as much as for Ferries or utility missions. As the other transport elements develop, this also changes the demand for the marine transport and can affect their continued success in service. Until recently it has been the cost of fuel that has played a large part in HPMV economy. While this continues, the cost inclusive of environmental impact is becom- ing a strong driver to further develop powering effi ciency. Both technology and human society are continually developing. To the present largely fuelled by hydrocarbon-derived energy, this societal development has accel- erated greatly over the past half century as the population has also grown worldwide mainly concentrated around large cities. Fast marine craft have matured, while still having a much wider variety of concepts in use than that available for passenger aircraft that have converged to a narrow variation around a geometrical confi gura- tion and mass production. Maybe this is because the range of applications is much wider for HPMV. It does at least continue to offer opportunities for Aero-Marine Engineers to be involved in a wide range of concepts and challenging operations! In this book, we refer to the craft family as HPMV, as the vessels are not only built for high speed, but may also have other attributes such as amphibious capability (air-cushion vehicles) or extreme seaworthiness (SWATH). Specialists from some countries refer to such craft simply as high-speed craft (HSC); however, the use of HPMV is more common now, and we will use that description and acro- nym in this book. Preface vii The authors have been concerned with HPMV for a long time. Liang Yun has more than 40 years of experience at the Marine Design and Research Institute of China, Shanghai (MARIC), and 20 years plus as the Chairman of HPMV Design subcommittee of the China Society of Naval Architecture and Marine engineering, CSNAME, as well as organizing the annual International HPMV Conference, Shanghai, China for a dozen years. He has been involved in ACV development in China since the very fi rst prototypes were constructed in Harbin in the late 1950s and has been involved to some extent in design of many other vessel types treated here. Alan Bliault has also worked in the ACV industry in its early days as a Naval Architect, but became involved in the offshore oil industry in the early 1980s and so has led a double life since that time, in order to maintain his connections with the world of fast marine craft. Some while ago, we decided to write a series of books on the analysis and design of different HPMV and have completed two on individual craft: “Theory and Design of Air Cushion Craft” (2000); “WIG and Ekranoplan, Ground Effect Technology” (2009) presenting the hydrodynamic and aerodynamic theory behind these two types. This will be followed by volumes on Catamarans/Trimarans and Monohulls/ Hydrofoils in due course. We do feel that many people have a strong interest in this technology, however while many HPMV are in operation in different parts of the world, until now there has not been a single volume giving an overview, discussing the differences and special features between them, as well as the approach to selection taken in various cases for both civil and military applications. So, we present this book entitled “High-Performance Marine Vessels” for reader’s interest. We cover as many HPMV concepts as practical within a single volume, with technical summary descriptions and discussion of the design drivers as an introduc- tion for a wide readership. We include many pictures and fi gures describing the shapes and confi gurations as well as features of various HPMV, together with some tables to introduce the leading particulars of the craft types. Our idea with this book has been to survey HPMV development, the market drivers, and the responses over time of the marine construction industry. The book introduces the HPMV family of craft concepts in Chap. 1 . Chapters 2 – 6 introduce successively the ACV, SES, WIG, Hydrofoils, Monohulls, Catamarans, Wave piercers, and Trimarans. In Chap. 7 hybrid and novel HPMV confi gurations are surveyed. A review and comparison of various HPMV, and the strong competi- tion between various types in the worldwide civil and military markets through their development and their future prospects is covered in Chap. 8 . We have included an appendix summarizing the British “InterService Hovercraft Trials Unit” IHTU, and its successor NHTU as an example of how the military development provided leverage for a concept development. In the USA, the hydrofoil was supported through a series of programmes, and in Russia the ekranoplan followed such a programme. Both are referred to in the main chapters and detail is available in the references and resources. If the reader is encouraged by this book to dig deeper, then at the end of this book there are references used and a listing of sources that are useful in enquiry into viii Preface HPMV. The internet can be rather a maze, so we hope this listing can be a help to home in on useful data without getting too sidetracked. The book is written particularly for the following readers: • Students in middle and high schools • Students and teachers in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, and other concerned faculties of universities and institutes • Staff members, technicians, and engineers of marine transportation units, shipping companies, shipyards, ship research institutes, and other concerned units for both civil and naval organizations • All people who are interested in the HPMV in both military and civil applications In tracing the historical background to the different craft, we refer to many famous people in the marine world who have played their part in major technologi- cal achievements. There are many more than just the names you will meet here, and we salute all those who have dedicated their lives to these great endeavours. The results can bring great satisfaction, at least for a while, until the next challenge appears, and the urge to take the next step becomes imperative. There are of course disagreements in some areas as to who came up with ideas fi rst or had the greatest impact. Readers of the Wikipedia can experience this simply by browsing the dis- cussions behind many entries. In fact we believe it is amazing that such similar ideas can often surface at opposite sides of the world at similar times, and hope that both or all sides can celebrate the ideas themselves. There is still a long way to go before technology development reaches its abso- lute limits. We are close regarding pure speed, but economy, passenger comfort, and environmental impact are still signifi cant challenges for the twenty-fi rst century to grapple with. We will discuss a little of this, and hope some who read this book will play their part in driving HPMV forward in the future! The content of the book may seem in a slightly random sequence, dealing with ACV and WIG craft fi rst. The logic is that these concepts are more out on the edges of the technology while the monohull, hydrofoil, multihull, and then the hybrids do follow a more natural sequence and interaction, allowing us to move more smoothly to a concluding chapter on opportunities. Readers may equally well start at Chap. 4 and move forward, returning to Chaps. 2 and 3 later if they wish. Shanghai, China Liang Yun Sola, Norway Alan Bliault Acknowledgements The authors would like to express their sincere thanks to the leadership and col- leagues of the Marine Design and Research Institute of China (MARIC), and China Society of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering (CSNAME), as well as Shanghai Association of Shipbuilding Industry (SASI), including Prof. Xing Wen- Hua (Managing Director, MARIC), Mr. Wang Gao Zhong (Deputy Managing Director of MARIC), Prof. Huang Ping-Tao, President, CSNAME, Mr. Zhou Zhen- Bai, President, SASI, and Mr. Yang Xin-Fa, Secretary General, SASI; Senior Engineers Sun Yong-Hua, Tao Ping-Ping, and Wu Chen-Ji, all of MARIC; Senior Information Engineer Chiao Yun from MARIC; and Prof. Liang Qi Kang, Former Managing Director of MARIC. Thanks also to Jeffrey Hu (computer software engineer) and Kelvin X. Yun (fi nancial specialist) for their help during the writing of this book. Image Acknowledgements We give special thanks to the following for their kind agreement to use their images (fi gure references in parentheses): The National Gallery, London (1.2); Discovery Museum, Tyne and Wear (1.5 and 1.7); Airlift Hovercraft (2.67); Supramar (3.30, 3.31, 5.4, 5.15, 5.16); Sea Eagle (3.32a, b); C&S AMT, Bang Wan Chun (3.34a, b); Wingship Technology Corporation, Jin H Park (3.35); Wigetworks (3.36); Universal Hovercraft (3.37); The Trireme Trust UK (c)1988 Paul Lipke (4.1) Arnesen Propulsion Systems (4.13); Lurrsen Shipyards, Klaus Jordan (4.16); Windy Yachts, Knut Heiberg Andersen (4.19), Millenium Superyachts (4.17); Austal (4.23, 6.4, 6.9, 6.11, 6.24–6.29, 8.25); Incat (4.24, 6.16–6.19, 8.9); Rodriquez (5.17, 5.18, 5.33, 6.10, 8.28); Condor (6.14 and 6.15); ESI/SESEU (7.6a, b, 7.7a–c); Navatek (7.15a, b); Quinetiq (7.18, 7.19, 7.20, 7.21); M Ship Company (7.22–7.27); Textron Land & Marine Systems (8.6 and 8.7); Sabdes Design, Scott Blee (8.27); NaplesImage.com, Jay Nichols (6.13); Turbine Marine (4.15); Bluebird Supporters Club, Mike Varndell (6.21 and 6.22); BMT Nigel Gee (6.30 and 6.31); Stena Line ix x Acknowledgements (6.7–6.9, 6.20); British Power Boat Racing Club and Graham Stevens (1.11 and 4.14); Boeing (3.29). We would like to thank John Gifford and the personnel of GriffonHoverwork for their help with many photos and updated information on amphibious hovercraft in Chap. 2 . Our thanks also to Alan Blunden of Fast Ferry International for images 8.10– 8.14 taken on one of his many photographic forays to Hong Kong. Most appreci- ated. Special thanks also to Brian Russell, who contributed Appendix 1 giving a taste of the experience gained in the UK through the Interservices and Naval Hovercraft Trials Units. We are proud to be able to present publicly available images from the US Navy and Marines throughout this book, many taken by enthusiastic crew of the various vessels and the LCAC Craft. Many missions of mercy have been undertaken by these personnel in the recent past following environmental calamities all over the world and deserve congratulation for their dedication to this work. We have used a number of publicly available images from WIKI Commons and thank the organization for their work. The WIKI is an invaluable source of information which is recommended, so long as you take care in interpreting the information as it is constantly being updated! Finally heartfelt thanks to our families, who have been very patient over the last 3 years while this book has been in preparation, and to the editorial staff at Springer who have been consistently encouraging, as well as incredibly patient while the fi nal product took form. Liang Yun Alan Bliault