GREENWAVE - HYDRIS - Hydrodynamic Drag Reduction in Sail Assisted Shipping

HYDRIS is a research project run in conjunction with Southampton’s Solent University to identify what can be done to make the ship’s hull slip through the water with less resistance.

The largest drag factor in ships comes from the hull’s contact with water. It follows that any improvement in this area will have a significant positive impact on fuel economy and consequently emissions.

The integrity of the hull is of fundamental importance to the handling and safety of the ship. Hydrodynamic solutions have to consider Greenwave’s requirement for fitting to existing ships without taking them ship out of service for a commercially unsustainable period.

Any solutions which affect the hull have to be very carefully researched and tested, first in towing tanks and subsequently in sea trials.

Greenwave’s wind assisted solutions have already demonstrated the opportunity for significant fuel and emission savings. One aim of the HYDRIS research programme is to assess whether any modifications might be required to stabilize the ship when under Wind Engine propulsion.

The profile of the wind engine is completely different from that of traditional sails and the degree to which some form of control device may be required is currently being tested at Solent University using a 1:85 scale model of an existing bulk cargo vessel.

Significantly, the first new ship, for about eighty years, to be built with rotary wind engines installed, is under construction in Germany.

One area of investigation is appendages to the bulbous part of the bow to generate lift, thus reducing the wave-making effect. However early indications suggest any drag improvement here would have limited fuel saving potential.

A further aspect of HYDRIS research takes the more radical approach of investigating the fundamental issue, namely the resistance of those parts of the hull that are in contact with water.

Since water is the inevitable environment for all marine transport it would seem impossible to avoid it. One concept the Greenwave Project Team is looking at is the injection of air bubbles under significant parts of the hull so that those areas of the hull currently in contact with water would have drag reduced by sitting on a constantly generated cushion of air bubbles.

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Special thanks to the team at the University of Auckland’s Twisted Flow Wind Tunnel.

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