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The applicability of hydrofoils as a ship control device

Article  in  Journal of Marine Science and Application · July 2015


DOI: 10.1007/s11804-015-1314-x

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J. Marine Sci. Appl. (2015) 14: 244-249
DOI: 10.1007/s11804-015-1314-x

The Applicability of Hydrofoils as a Ship Control Device


Md. Shamim Mahmud*
Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh

Abstract: Centrifugal forces are commonly created when ships related research shifted toward the development of better
turn, which may cause a ship to capsize in a critical situation. A control system design, as opposed to the development of
mathematical model has been developed to optimize the stability new stabilization concepts (White et al., 2007; White, 2013;
coefficients for ship, with the aim to prevent capsizing and to
Hatzakis and Sclavounos, 2006). Recently, there has been a
increase ship maneuverability in high-speed water craft. This model
can be used to develop algorithms for control system improvement.
surge in the revitalization of roll gyrostabilizers, as lift
The mathematical model presented in this paper optimized the use forces, due to the angle of the flow around their fins,
of multipurpose hydrofoils to reduce heeling and the trimming produce anti-roll moment (Ghassemi et al., 2010). Designs
moment, maintaining an upright ship’s position and lessening the for zero-speed stabilizers and a cycloidal propeller have also
resistance via transverse force. Conventionally, the trimming and been proposed (Moaleji and Greig, 2005; Haro et al., 2011;
heeling of a ship are controlled using ballast water; however, under Jurgens and Moltrecht, 2001).
variable sea conditions it is sometimes difficult to control a ship’s These recent developments have been pushed by the
motion using ballast water. In this case, a hydrofoil would be more luxury yacht industry. Additionally, several navies are again
stable and maneuverable than a ballast tank controlled vessel. A
pursuing the use of rudder roll-damping systems. Previous
movable hydrofoil could theoretically be adapted from moveable
aerofoil technology. This study proves the merit of further research did not delve into the potential of a movable
investigation into this possibility. hydrofoil, only fixed-supported hydrofoils were investigated.
Keywords: hydrofoil; ship roll stabilization; trim; rudder-roll This paper first considers the subject of ship stability. The
damping; center of flotation; NACA foil section; ship capsize; gear source of roll stability in three types of ships, a displacement
system; instability; capsizing moment ship, a surface piercing hydrofoil, and a submerged-foil
hydrofoil, is considered. The roll disturbance for each of the
Article ID: 1671-9433(2015)03-0244-06 ships is determined using both the ship’s displacement and
the surface-piercing hydrofoil. The righting moment is
1 Introduction1 produced entirely by the change in the vessel’s attitude
relative to the water surface. In the case of the ship’s
Ship stability depends upon the ship’s control system,
displacement, the righting moment is due to a shift in the
which have been used for over 100 years. Various
center of buoyancy, while for the surface-piercing hydrofoil,
hydrodynamic characteristics have been studied to reduce
the righting moment is caused by a shift in the
ship capsizing and to improve control system designs (Zaher
hydrodynamic pressure center of the foils (Lloyd, 1975;
et al., 2007; Kreuzer and Wendt, 2000; Jang et al., 2007;
Matusiak, 2007). However, in a submerged-foil hydrofoil,
Beaver and Zseleczky, 2009). However, if hydrofoil
no righting moment is produced by the change of the ship’s
technology is used instead, it provides greater maneuvering
relative position on the water’s surface. The righting
stability, particularly with respect to changes in wave
moment for this ship must be produced by underwater
elevation.
control surfaces, in response to the change of ship’s attitude
A mathematical model for the theoretical maneuvering of
relative to inertial space, as sensed by a vertical gyro.
ships in deep and confined waters was first proposed by
The improvement of computer technology has led to the
Norrbin (1970). The most important factor affecting the
development of different algorithms for automatic control
dynamic stability of ships in realistic seas was found to be
systems (ACS), so now a ship’s attitude can be sensed using
the rolling motion. Thus, the ship’s roll is the most crucial
a nonlinear mathematical model (Renand and Yang, 2004).
degree of freedom in a ship’s motion dynamics. Ship’s roll
The application of these artificial control systems has been
can be predicted through numerical methods (Jang et al.,
discussed by Roskilly et al. (2002), Surendran and Kiren
2010).
(2007), Ren et al. (2005), and Zheng (2011). ACS functional
After the last addition of rudder roll-damping systems in
configurations were built using a highly-developed digital
the late 1970s and early 1980s, the majority of stability-
craft simulation, control hardware, and sea conditions. This
simulation includes three control algorithms, a proportional-
Received date: 2014-08-14. integral-derivative (PID), a linear quadratic regulator (LQR),
Accepted date: 2014-12-26. and sliding mode controls that are applied to regular and
*Corresponding author Email: shamimmahmud@ymail.com
irregular wave conditions (Stark, 1974; Bai and Kim, 2010).
© Harbin Engineering University and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015
Journal of Marine Science and Application (2015) 14: 244-249 245

It is this transfer of stability reference, from the water


surface to an inertial reference that leads to the superior sea
keeping capabilities of the submerged-foil hydrofoil.
The mathematical model presented in this paper
represents the multipurpose usage of hydrofoil in vessels, to
reduce the heeling and trimming moment, which aids in
maintaining an upright position and lessening the water
resistance. The more prevalent adoption of hydrofoil
technology could lead to increased ship’s stability under sea
conditions that challenge conventional water-tank ballast
Fig. 4 Center of pressure position of hydrofoil
control systems, as well as overall vessel maneuverability.

2 Hydrofoil proposition and positioning 3 Mathematical model: turning, heel, and trim
3.1 Removing capsizing moment during turning
2.1 Proposition
The abbreviations for the mathematical model are
A multipurpose hydrofoil is recommended, as it could
provided as follows: AR is surface area of the hydrofoil and
lessen the trimming and heeling moments of the craft by
is equal to half the area of the rudder, V is the speed of the
maintaining the vessel in an upright position and by
ship in m/s, δR is the angle of attack, Cf is the center of
lessening the resistance, thus stabilizing the ship. The design
floatation, Cg is the center of gravity, ∆ represents the mass
of the hydrofoil was inspired from observations of dolphin
of the ship, R is the turning radius, G is the gravitational
movement, particularly how dolphin’s balance their body
acceleration, Mh is the moment-causing heel, Mt is the
using their fins in different wave conditions. Inspiration also
moment-causing trim, Ff is the force exerted on each foil,
came from observing the relationship between the rudder
and Mf is the moment provided by the foil.
force and center of gravity force on the ship.
The positioning of a right-turning boat is depicted in Fig.5
2.2 Positioning the hydrofoil and the cross section of this boat is shown in Fig. 6, where
A pair of hydrofoil fins are attached to the craft, a Fr is the rudder force, Fh is the body force, and R is the
National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) turning radius.
profile 4412 (4% Max camber, maximum thickness at the
midpoint & maximum thickness 12% of the chord). These
two fins are accommodated along the side wall of the boat,
as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The center pressure of these two
hydrofoils must be in line with the boat’s center of gravity.
For each hydrofoil, two supports are provided (Figs. 3 and
4). The first support has a rotating axis and is denoted by A
and A’, while the second axis is movable and is denoted by Fig. 5 Turning position of ship
B and B’. The movable axis is used to create an angle of
attack for the foils.

Fig. 1 Top view of hydrofoil position Fig. 6 Cross-section of ship

V 2
Fh  Fr  (1)
Rg
Therefore, the moment-causing heel is
Fig. 2 Side view of hydrofoil position
M h   Fh  Fr  KG  Fr  KH   Fh  KE  
 Fh  Fr  KG  KE   Fr  KH  KE   (2)
 Fh  Fr  GE   Fr  EH 
where E is the center of lateral resistance. E and H are very
close, so the moment-causing heel can be simplified as:
Fig. 3 Center of floatation and gravity position
246 Md. Shamim Mahmud. The Applicability of Hydrofoils as a Ship Control Device

V 2 2b AW b
M h   Fh  Fr  GE    GE  (3) Mh    Th   g  AW  ΔTh   g (7)
Rg 3 4 6
Usually, the value of E is closer to half of the draft, so, the where AW is the water plane area. The moment is acting in
moment becomes a function of the turning radius R and the an anti-clockwise direction. To reduce the heeling, a
ship speed V. This moment should be neutralized by the clockwise moment should be provided to correct the ship’s
moment created by the hydrofoils, as the capsizing moment position, as stated by Eq. (5), from Eqs. (6) and (7).
is anti-clockwise. In this case, there must be a clockwise
b
moment produced by the hydrofoils. Let us assume the 18 ARCV 2 RH C  b  2t   AW  Th   g
angle of attack is δR. The left-hand hydrofoil should be 6
rotated positively and the right-hand hydrofoil should be Therefore, δRH is
rotated negatively, by direction. In other words, these two bAW T  g
hydrofoils should provide force in the vertically upward and  RH  (8)
6  b  2t   18 ARV 2
downward directions, respectively, and provide a clockwise
moment, see Fig. 7. In this case, the angles of attack on the left- and right-hand
foils should be positive and negative, respectively.

Fig. 7 Clockwise and anti-clockwise moment

For the foil area AR, according to the Baker and


Bottomley formula, the force on each foil is
Fig. 8 Displacement due to heel
F f  18 AR CV  R (4)
So, the moment produced would be 3.3 To correct unwanted trim
Due to non-uniform loading or any external force, the
M f  18 ARCV  RC  b  2t 
2
(5) boat may not be in the correct trim position.
where b is the molded breadth and t is the distance (Cg of the
foil, determined from the ship’s side).
This moment should equal the capsizing moment of the
boat. From Eqs. (3) and (5), we get
v 2
18 ARCV 2 RC  b  2t   (GE )
Rg Fig. 9 Top view in trim condition
(6)
v GE 2
or  RC 
18RgARV 2  b  2t 
This angle will be positive for the left-hand foil and be
negative for the right-hand one.
3.2 Control of heel Fig. 10 Unwanted trim
This mathematical system can be used when the boat
rotates to a considerable degree (the high angle of If he boat is trimmed via the bow, the boat will rotate
movement but not beyond the stability angle) due to either around the center of floatation (Cf), Fig. 9. Therefore, a
wave or wind forces, called heeling, Fig. 8. Excessive coordinate system can be constructed starting at aft
heeling, i.e., tilt, can be disconcerting for passengers. For perpendicular and positive rightward, Fig. 10. The force
this purpose, an automated control system could be caused in this forward rotation is:
introduced to the both sides of the ship to measure the L
Fr   g  2 yxdx (9)
amount of heel of the boat. If there is a change in the draft
Cf
on both sides, let it be ∆T.
The force on each portion can be defined as: Tt y xTt
However, tan    and y  .
L x L
1 A A
F   W  Th   g  W  Th   g Therefore the forward rotation force is
2 2 4
2  g Tt 2
L

L Cf
with moment-causing heel being Fr  x dx (10)
Journal of Marine Science and Application (2015) 14: 244-249 247

The distance from the Cg for the two portions would be have dynamic instability in quartering seas, described by the
2L behavior of a hydrofoil ship when broaching. Weight
approximately .
3 sensitivity and speed, coupled with the problems associated
Therefore, the trimming moment is with operating in the worst of the marine environments
place special demands of the ships subsystems. It may be
4  g Tt 2
L
Mt 
3  x dx (11) expected that the hydrofoil will spend the major of its
Cf operating lifetime in the hull-borne mode. If the foils are
In this case, the force will be provided by both the foils in extended during hull borne operation, there is a significant
the upwards direction. The force should be equal to effect on craft motion, particularly in the roll mode, which is
normally not heavily damped. The foil system gives
F  2  18.0  ARVR 2 RT  36  ARVR 2 RT (12) hydrofoil crafts the hull-borne motion characteristics of
The anti-trimming moment provided by foil is ships that have much larger displacements.
The ship’s control system comprise those components
M f  36  ARVR 2 RT  L (13)
necessary to control the ship’s speed, attitude, and direction,
Thus, from Eqs. (11) and (13) and if necessary, the dynamic stabilization. As with any
4  g Tt 2
L
dynamic lift vehicle, the control system of a hydrofoil can
36  ARVR 2 RT  L  ٛ
3  x dx
Cf
be divided into five functional areas: sensor, computer,
(14) actuator, force producer, and the vehicle itself. The vehicle
 g  Tt L

27 ARVR 2  L Cf
or  RT  2
x dx and control system react to two inputs: the command and the
external disturbance, which are shown in a typical block
Fig. 11 shows the possible control system setup. The diagram in Fig. 12.
heave, heave velocity, pitch and pitch angular velocity are The foils themselves act both as sensors and as control
filtered and used to determine the flap angle in the control devices, by virtue of the changes in force and moments that
system. Also, the wave elevation is estimated by using occur, which correspond with the depth of foil submergence.
relative bow height and filtered ship motion. Finally, the As already noted, hydrofoils provide persuasive advantages
pulse for the linear motor is calculated by using filtered ship of extreme simplicity and high reliability, although this
motion to operate the fore and aft foil flap. simplicity is bought at the cost of rough water seaworthiness.
From Eq. (14) we have obtained the angle of attack δR of the
foil. Now, how can we control the foil? Twentieth century
aerospace technology introduced us to the flapping/movable
airfoil. We can use this same technology to create a flapping
or movable hydrofoil. The determining factor for this
transfer of technology is the air–water interface drag
(Mortezazadeh et al., 2014; Giesing and Smith, 1967;
Forbes, 1985), which is higher than the aerodynamic drag.
The characteristics of these moveable hydrofoils in different
sea condition can be approximated through the application
of numerical methods (Pascarelli et al., 2002; Kim and
Yamato, 2004; Surendran and Venkata Ramana Reddy, 2003;
Jang and Kinoshita, 2000). Before reaching the stall angle,
in many cases the lift force dramatically decreases, due to
the free surface effect. Consequently, the h/c ratio is an
important factor for attaining the desirable lift force using
movable hydrofoils, where h is the free surface height and c
Fig. 11 Hydrofoil control system the chord length. Our research discerned the moveable
hydrofoil drag and lift characteristics from our (NACA 4412)
Hydrofoil ships use the dynamic lift of submerged lifting model when the h/c ratio is 1, as displayed in Figs. 13 and
surfaces to support their weight, which in conventional ships 14, respectively.
is supported by the buoyancy of the hull. In this way, the
ship’s hull can be lifted clear of the water, eliminating hull
drag and the forces imposed on the hull by the sea. However,
the advantages of hydrofoil use are exact a price. As with
any dynamic lift vehicle, hydrofoil ships are weight
sensitive and must operate at relatively high speeds in order
to generate the dynamic lift required to support their weight
with a reasonable size foil system (Spyrou, 1996). They also Fig. 12 Motion control
248 Md. Shamim Mahmud. The Applicability of Hydrofoils as a Ship Control Device

which is dependent on the sea conditions, may help in


algorithm and control system design of future automotive
craft systems.

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