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In order to predict the movement of our ship accurately, we must thoroughly

understand the nature and magnitude of the forces which affect her. There are six
general sources of force which can be brought to bear on our ship independent of
any other vessel. They are the propellers, the rudders, the mooring lines, the
ground tackle, the wind, and finally the current. The first four are controllable from
the ship itself. The wind and the current (and this includes tidal currents), though
not controllable, can be utilized to serve our aims if properly handled. Each of
these forces can produce important effects, as indicated in Figure so it is
worth while to take the time to study and understand each of them. Let's re-
member from the beginning, however, that these are forces only, and that motion
results only after inertia has played its part.
A modern ship may have a distributed mass of many thousand tons and may
be several hundred feet long. Such a body not only has tremendous inertia to
resist linear acceleration, but it also has a tremendous moment of inertia to resist
rotational accelerations. The ship is resting in a fluid (water) covered by another
fluid (air), both of which will offer a resistance to relative motion. Thus, when we
apply a single force to the ship, we can expect an acceleration until the fluid
resistance produced by the motion balances out the original force. This will apply
to angular motion produced by an off-center force as well as by force appl ied
through the center of gravity. Thus, when we apply any force to the ship, we can
expect motion to gradually build up until a state of equilibrium is reached, at
which time the velocity of the motion will become constant.

Forces in water manifest themselves as pressure differences. Water is incompres-

sible but by applying force to it we can build up a higher pressure in one area as
compared to surrounding areas, and this difference in pressure will cause the
water to flow from the area of higher pressure to the surrounding area of lower
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WIND
FORCE PRODUCED BY
30 KNOT WIND FROM
45°.0N THE BOW ..
23,000 LBS.

CURRENT
FORCE REQUIRED TO
HOLD SHIP STATION-
ARY IN A 3 KNOT
CURRENT 45°DN THE
BOW.. 55,000 LBS.

RUDDER
30° RUDDER PRODUCES
A SIDE FORCE at 15
KNOTS OF ...
MOORING LINES AND
GROUND TACKLE
6-INCH MANILA. . 30,000 LBS
5/a-INCH WIRE 25,500 LBS.
~ 1-INCH WIRE... 64,400 LBS.
Pia INCH SPRING
LAID WIRE ROPE .. 93,000 LBS
INCH DIE LOCK
CHAIN 161,000 LBS.

PROPELLER
THRUST
AT 15 KNOTS ...
55,000 LBS

pressure. When we pull an oar through the water, for instance, we build up high
pressure on the face of the blade toward which the blade is moving, and we create
a low pressure on the face which is moving away from the water. During
the motion, water flows from the high pressure region to the low pressure region.
The greater the immersed area of the blade, the greater the area upon which the
pressure can act. The greater the force applied to the oar, the greater the pressure
difference. The average difference of pressure between the two sides, multiplied
by the immersed area of the blade, is a measure of the force we are exerting on the
water. Since the inertia of the water resists the force being applied by the blade
end of the oar, this resistance, working through the oar, applies a force to the boat
in the opposite direction. Resistance to the oar exists only when the particles of
P=F/A -> F= P(Dif das medias de pressao) x A
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water are being set in motion by the movement of the oar. Without the force we
apply to the oar, there would be no motion, no pressure difference, and no resis-
tance. Thus we see that force, resistance, and motion are irrevocably interlocked
when dealing in a fluid medium.
The above discussion illustrates the fact that all forces in water manifest
themselves as pressure differences. If we are going to apply force on a waterborne
object, such as our ship, we can do it only by creating a pressure difference
across a part of the ship's structure. And if at any time our ship moves in any way,
we know that some force is acting somewhere on our ship's structure-and we
can locate that force by looking for the pressure difference that causes it.
In any large body of water, there are always two components of pressure
present at any point: one is the static pressure due to depth, or sheer weight of the
water above the point; the other is the dynamic pressure caused by motion in the
surrounding water. In the sea the static pressure does not cause motion, because
it is the same everywhere at any given depth level, and hence balances out as far
as we are concerned.
Bernoulli's Theorem tells us that at any given depth in an open body of water
like the sea, the sum of the static pressure and the dynamic pressure is always
constant. Normally there is little motion of the water, so the static pressure is all
that needs to be considered. When a ship passes through the water or a propeller
blade slices into it, however, the water is set into motion and the static pressure is
reduced by the amount of the dynamic pressure. Though it is usually the decrease
in effective static pressure brought about by setting the water particles in motion
that produces our hydrodynamic effects, knowing the magnitude of the dynamic
pressure will tell us the pressure difference to be expected from the motion.
The magnitude of the dynamic pressure is given by the expression:

~
2g
where:
Dynamic pressure in Ibs/ft2
p Density of the moving fluid in Ibs/fP
Velocity of flow in ftlsec
g Acceleration due to gravity, 32.2 ftlsec2

The resulting pressure difference caused by the motion of water is therefore

proportional to the density of the fluid and the square of the velocity of motion.
Bernoulli's Theorem and the above expression apply to air movement also,
but since salt water at 64.4 Ibs/ft3 is 855 times more dense than standard moist
.air at .0752 Ibs/ft3 the dynamic forces on a ship resulting from the flow of water
past its hull and appendages is vastly greater than those caused by the flow of air.
On the other hand, the velocity of air relative to the ship may be much higher than
normal water velocities, and since the dynamic pressure component increases as
the square of the velocity, the dynamic effects of strong winds on a ship's struc-
ture can be quite large. It may be useful to remember that the velocity of air must
be approximately 30 times the velocity of water for the resulting dynamic pressure
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to be the same. Stated another way, 30 knots of wind is the equivalent of 1 knot of
current.
A last general characteristic of water that is important in our study is its
continuity; it tends to exist as a continuous body, without gaps or holes except as
caused by extraordinary forces, If a volume of water is moved away so quickly, by
a propeller blade, for instance, that the pressure differences there are insufficient
to accelerate water in as fast as it is being moved away, then a gap would occur,
on the back side of the propeller blade. This gap is known as separation.
A companion phenomenon occurs when, in a high velocity stream, the ve-
locity gets so high and the pressure so low that the pressure in the stream drops to
the vaporization point of water. In this case drops of water become vaporized in
the area described, in a manner similar to boiling. This phenomenon is known as
cavitation.
Separation and cavitation are of interest to the shiphandler, because, when
they occur, they upset the pattern of streamlines and change the resulting forces.
These phenomena are likely to occur around abrupt changes in the underwater
body of a ship moving at high speed, or about the blade of a propeller that is
being rotated rapidly.

Before going into the various hydrodynamic effects associated with a ship and its
motion through the water, some definitions are in order:
Hydrofoil. Any relatively thin, plate-like member, such as a propeller blade or
rudder, designed to obtain a lift force when inclined to the flow of the water.
Angle of Attack. The angle at which a hydrofoil is inclined to the relative free
stream flow.
Lift. That component of the reaction force on a hydrofoil which lies in a
direction perpendicular to the relative free stream flow of the water.
Drag. That component of the reaction force on a hydrofoil which lies in a
direction parallel to the relative free stream flow of the water.
A flat plate placed at an angle in a stream of water, as indicated in Figure
2-2(a), acts as a hydrofoil and causes the water to move out of the way on the
leading side and to accelerate to move in behind the trailing side. This creates a
high pressure on the leading side and a low pressure on the trailing side. This
difference of pressure exerts a lift force on the plate as indicated in the figure. With
smooth flow, this force is proportional to the angle of inclination, the dynamic
pressure, and the area of the plate. Since an abrupt change of flow is required at
Point A, separation could exist at such a point, and could alter the pressure
distribution over the surface of the plate. If the plate is shaped as indicated in
Figure 2-2(b), however, the acceleration of the water will be more gradual and
separation will be avoided.
The rudder is obviously a hydrofoi I, designed to produce the lateral forces
used in the control of the ship's heading. The rudder force acts through the rudder