Hydrodynamic Testing of a High Performance Skiff at Model and Full Scale

Abstract

Abstract: This study examines the hydrodynamic performance of a high performance skiff hull using three different physical testing techniques which may be used in early stage design for assessment of the upright resistance of sailing vessels. The hull chosen as a benchmark form is a high-speed hard-chine sailing dinghy, typical of modern trends in skiff design, and is broadly similar to some high performance yacht hulls. The 4.55 m hull was tested at full scale in a moderate size towing tank, at 1:2.5 scale in the same tank, and at full-scale by towing on open water. The work presented here builds on the study of Day & Cameron (2017), with the model tests repeated and re-analyzed in the present study and additional results presented. The challenges of full-scale open-water testing are discussed and several potential improvements in practice are identified for future work. Results show that the open water testing broadly matches well with model-scale tank testing, with the mean discrepancy in the measured resistance between the two around 4% over the speed range tested after correction for the presence of the rudder. Agreement is initially less good for the full-scale hull in the tank for higher speeds, both for resistance and trim. ITTC guidelines suggest that blockage may be an issue for the full-scale boat in this size of tank; comparison of the results suggests that blockage, and/or finite depth effects for the full-scale hull in the tank present a substantial problem at the higher speeds. A correction approach for the wave resistance of the full scale results using a calculation based on a linear thin ship theory is effective in this case, and results show that the full scale and model scale tests agree satisfactorily for the majority of the speed range after this correction. In addition to upright resistance in calm water, results are presented for the impact of small waves, the addition of the rudder, and variations in displacement and trim on resistance for a skiff hull. Finally, the results are compared with predictions from the well-known Delft series regression equations, Savitsky's methods, and a thin ship calculation. The thin ship approach gives good agreement for the case in which the hull is trimmed bow-down and the transom is not immersed, while the Savitsky pre-planing approach gives good agreement for the level trim case. The Delft series and Savitsky planing hull approaches do not give good agreement with physical measurements.