Lecture-4

Wave-making Resistance
Frictional resistance is the result of
the tangential fluid forces.

Wave-making resistance of a ship is

the net fore-and-aft force upon the
ship due to the fluid pressure acting
normally on all parts of the hull
In the case of a deeply submerged body,
travelling horizontally at a steady speed far
below the surface, no waves are formed, but the
normal pressures will vary along the length.

In a non-Viscous fluid the net fore-and-aft

force due to this variation would be zero, as
previously noted (D’- Alemberts paradox).
 If the body is travelling on or
near the surface, however, this
variation in pressure causes waves
which alter the distribution of
pressure over the hull, and the
resultant net fore-and-aft force is the
wave-making resistance.
 The effect of this must be a
resistance of such magnitude that
the energy expended in moving the
body against it is equal to the energy
necessary to maintain the wave
system.
Wave-making resistance is important to
1. a surface ship (negligible for submarine); and
2. its speed is high. Accurately speaking, its
Froude # , V
FR 
gL
V
or in U.S. the speed/length ratio, L is high.

Speed to length ratio is a dimensional coefficient,

where V is in knots, L in m/s.
A nautical mile/hr (knot) = 0.5144 m/s.
V
 1 is equivalent to FR  0.3
L
When FR  0.1, CW & RW is negligible.
When FR  0.45, CW  V 6 , RW is dominant in RT .
The wave-making resistance depends
on
- shapes adopted for the area curve
- shapes of waterlines
- shapes of transverse sections

Its determination and the methods by

which it can be reduced are among the
main goals of the study of ship’s
resistance.
 At present, model tests remain the
most important tool available for
reducing the resistance of specific ship
designs, but theory lends invaluable help
in interpreting model results and in
guiding model research.
The earliest account of the way in
which ship waves are formed is believed
to be that due to Lord Kelvin(1887)
Kelvin Wave pattern: a single pressure point
travelling in a straight line over the surface of the
water, sending out waves which combine to form a
characteristic pattern.
Wave pattern behind a moving duck
• Hydrodynamically, the ship can be regarded as a
moving pressure field. Kelvin considered the
mathematically simplified case of a moving
pressure point and showed that the resulting wave
pattern is built up of two systems.
-Divergent wave system
-Transverse system of waves with crests more or
less normal to the path of the pressure point.

• Both systems travel forward with the speed of the

pressure point.
•Ship Wave Pattern
Kelvin wave pattern illustrates and explains many
of the features of ship waves. Ship wave pattern is
similar to the combination of two Kelvin wave
systems generated by two pressure points, with one
near the bow and the other near the stern.
• To a first approximation, the ship can be
considered as composed of a moving pressure field
near the bow and a suction field near the stern.
• The bow produces a wave pattern similar to that
produced by Kelvin’s pressure point with a crest
at the bow.
• The stern on the other hand produces a wave
system with a trough at the stern.
• If the line of maximum height of crests of the
divergent system is at α, then the wave crests at
these positions subtend an angle of approximately
2α to the ship center line (previous figure).
 Typical Wave Pattern

Stern divergent wave Bow divergent wave

L
Transverse wave Wave Length
Schematic diagram of the stern and bow wave system of a ship
 Near the bow of a ship the most
noticeable waves are a series of divergent
waves, starting with a large wave at the
bow, followed by others arranged on
each side along a diagonal line in such a
way that each wave is stepped back
behind the one in front in echelon and is
of quite short length along its crest line.
Wave pattern of a ship
 Between the divergent waves on each side
of the ship, transverse waves are formed having
their crest lines normal to the direction of motion
near the hull, bending back as they approach the
divergent system waves and finally coalescing
with them.
These transverse waves are most easily
seen along the middle portion of a ship or model
with parallel body or just behind a ship running
at high speed.
Wave Pattern of a small boat (divergence wave pattern)
• The transverse waves increase in width as the
divergent waves spread out. The total energy
content per wave is constant, so that their height
falls progressively with increasing distance from the
ship.

• In general, both divergent systems will be

detectable, although the stern system is much
weaker than that from the bow. Normally, the stern
transverse system cannot be detected as only the
resultant of the two systems is visible astern of the
ship. In some ships, the wave pattern may be even
more complex by the generation of other wave
systems by local discontinuities in the ship’s form.
 Since the wave pattern as a whole
moves with the ship, the transverse waves
are moving in the same direction as the
ship at the same speed V, and might be
expected to have the length appropriate
to free waves running on surface at that
speed
LW = 2 V2/g
 The divergent waves will have a different
speed along the line normal to their crests .
 In this case, the component of speed
parallel to the line of the ship’s motion must be
equal to the ship’s speed in order to retain the
fixed pattern relative to the ship.
If the line normal to the crest of a
divergent wave makes an angle  with the
ship’s course, the speed in that direction will be
Vcos  , and the corresponding wave length
LW = (2V2/g)cos2
Transverse wave System

• It travels at approximately the same speed as the ship.

• At slow speed, several crests exist along the ship length
because the wave lengths are smaller than the ship length.
• As the ship speeds up, the length of the transverse wave
increases.
• When the transverse wave length approaches the ship length,
the wave making resistance increases very rapidly.
This is the main reason for the dramatic increase in
Total Resistance as speed increases.
Transverse wave System

Vs < Hull Speed

Slow
Speed
Wave
Length
Vs  Hull Speed High
Speed
Wave Length
Hull Speed : speed at which the transverse wave length equals
the ship length.
(Wavemaking resistance drastically increases above hull speed)
Wave Component Interference
• The interaction between can be
constructive or destructive.
• The position of a particle in a wave can be
described as a 2D wave in X-Z vertical
plane.
 Assumptions
• Wave trains have the same velocity and
have equal wavelengths and wave periods.
• The four wave systems following the ship,
therefore only differ in height and phase.
• The phase difference is equal for all
particles and is independent of time.
 Superposition of Wave
Components
• Addition of ordinates of a particle resulting
from each of the wave train yields.
 Resultant Wave Height
• For the resulting transverse wave,

• The phase angle difference is

• The wave height is

• Where ln-1,n is the distance from a crest of the
wave in the transverse system n-1 to the nearest
crest in the system n.
The equation reduces to
The previous eqn. gives height of resulting
wave.
The energy in a transverse wave in Kelvin
wave system.

Where b is breadth of the wave, L w is the

length of wave.
We assume that
b ∝ Lw ∝ V2
When the ship moves through a distance x,
the energy required to maintain the wave
system can be expressed by
Therefore, the previous eqn. results in

Where the first term indicates the magnitude of wave making

resistance if the individual wave systems do not influence
one another.

The last part gives the interference components. Humps &

hollows in the resistance curve.
Divergent Wave System
• It consists of Bow and Stern Waves.
• Interaction of the bow and stern waves create the Hollow or
Hump on the resistance curve.
• Hump : When the bow and stern waves are in phase,
the crests are added up so that larger divergent wave systems
are generated.
• Hollow : When the bow and stern waves are out of phase,
the crests matches the trough so that smaller divergent wave
systems are generated.
 Wave-making Resistance of
Surface Ships
At low speeds, the waves made by the
ship are very small, and the resistance is
almost wholly Viscous in character.
Since the frictional resistance varies
at a power of the speed a little less than the
square, when the coefficient of total
resistance CT = RT/ (½) SV2 is plotted to a
base of Froude number Fn. (or of V/L)
• At first the value of CT decreases
with increases of speed.
• With further increases in speed, the
value of CT begins to increase more and
more rapidly, and at Froude numbers
approaching 0.45 (V/L =1.5) the
resistance may vary at a power of V of 6
or more.
• This general increase in CT is usually
accompanied by a number of humps and
hollows in the resistance curve.
 Interference effects
At lower speed (Fn), waves made by a ship are very small
& wave-making resistance is insignificant.
At lower Fn, divergent waves are the primary wave
system. As the Fn of a ship increases and the depth of
water decreases, transverse waves are more important.
The wavelength of T.W. increases with the speed of a
ship. Thus the position of the T.W’s crest (or trough)
w.r.t. the ship changes.
 Interference effects
Bow and stern wave interference accounts for the
humps and hollows in the CW curves.
To reduce the resistance, choose appropriate L, V such
that CW is at hollow instead of at humps.
Condition for crests or troughs of bow system to
coincide with first trough of stern system:
V2 / 0.9 L = g/ N π
 The condition when the crests of the
two systems reinforce one another leads
to higher wave heights.
The condition when the crests and
troughs tend to cancel one leads to lower
wave heights.
 Main hump

Prismatic hump
• A hump occurs when N is an odd integer
and a hollow when N is an even integer.
• The largest hump is at N=1, because the
speed is the highest for this condition and
this called the main hump.
• The hump associated with N=3 is often
called the prismatic hump since it is
greatly affected by Cp.
Typical resistance curve showing interference effects
• Values of Fn corresponding to the
humps and hollows are shown in
the table. N
• Fn= 0.4 is an unfavourable value. Fn
• In reality, the steepness of the 1 0.54
waves is limited and wave- 2 0.38
breaking takes place, especially
3 0.31
after Fn = 0.25. Hence this value
of Fn is unfavourable, although it 4 0.27
may seem favourable on the basis
of the interference pattern.
 It is obviously good design
practice to ensure whenever possible
that the ship will be running under
service conditions at a favorable
speed. It is the dependence of these
humps and hollows on the Froude
number that accounts for the close
relationship between economic
speeds and ship lengths.
 Calculation of Wave-Making Resistance Coeff.
• Wave-making resistance is affected by
- beam to length ratio
- displacement
- hull shape
- Froude number
• The calculation of the coefficient is far difficult and
inaccurate from any theoretical or empirical equation.
(Because mathematical modeling of the flow around
ship is very complex since there exists fluid-air
boundary, wave-body interaction)
• Therefore model test in the towing tank and Froude
expansion are needed to calculate CW of the real ship.
 Reducing Wave Making Resistance

1) Increasing ship length to reduce the transverse wave

- Hull speed will increase.
- Therefore increment of wave-making resistance of longer
ship will be small until the ship reaches to the hull speed.
- EX :
FFG7 : ship length 408 ft Which ship requires more
hull speed 27 KTS horse power at 35 KTS?
CVN65 : ship length 1040 ft
hull speed 43 KTS
2) Attaching Bulbous Bow to reduce the bow divergent wave
- Bulbous bow generates the second bow waves .
- Then the waves interact with the bow wave resulting in
ideally no waves, practically smaller bow divergent waves.
- EX :
DDG 51 : 7 % reduction in fuel consumption at cruise speed
3% reduction at max speed.
design &retrofit cost : less than $30 million
life cycle fuel cost saving for all the ship : $250 mil.
Tankers & Containers : adopting the Bulbous bow
 Wave-Making Resistance (cont)

Bulbous Bow
 Recent developments in wave-making
resistance theory
• Applications of linearised potential flow theory,
either with empirical corrections to make it more
accurate, or uncorrected for special cases where the
errors due to linearisation are not serious.
• Attempts to improve on linearised potential flow
theory, by analysis of non-linear effects on the free-
surface condition, or by an assessment of the effects
of viscosity.
Recent developments in wave-making
resistance theory
• Attempts have been made to apply wave
resistance theory to hull form design.
• Increase in the number of primarily numerical
approaches to ship wave resistance estimation.