Wake waves of a planing boat: An experimental model

Abstract

The wake waves generated by the steady movement of a planing hull are analyzed by means of towing tank tests. Two sets of waves, including divergent and transverse waves, are identified and then analyzed. The wave period of the divergent waves is seen to decrease by the increase in speed of the vessel. These waves are seen to damp temporally. The mechanisms that lead to damping of the divergent wave were found to depend on the wave orbital Reynolds number in semi-planing regime, though that of in-planing regime is a function of the Reynolds number of the boat. The wake angle is seen to decrease with the increase in Froude number, the rate of which becomes relatively large in-planing regime. Transverse waves are captured through measurements, and it is shown that while their period is longer than those of the divergent waves, they are not noticeably damped. Throughout the spectral analysis, it is demonstrated that divergent waves reach a higher level of nonlinearity by the increase in Froude number and, hence, the wave energy is distributed over a boarder range of frequency. The height of the transverse wave is observed to become lower by the increase in speed, but as the towing speed increases, the probability density function curves of surface elevation deviate more and more from the Gaussian distribution.