The Wave Generated by a Fine Ship Bow

Abstract

Presented at Ninth Symposium on Naval Hydrodynamics, August 1972, Paris.&&The flow field near the bow of a ship has some characteristics of a high-Froude-number problem, even if ship speed is moderate. Some of these features can be predicted by slender-body theory if the usual assumptions of that theory are modified in the bow region to allow for the occurrence of longitudinal rates of change greater than normally assumed. Analytical results are derived for the case of a fine wedge-shaped bow, in which case a universal curve can be drawn for the shape of the bow wave on the hull, regardless of speed, draft, or entrance angle (all within limits, of course). It is shown how a mathematical model matches with the usual slender-body model and how it eliminates certain of the objectionable features of the latter, with only minor complications. Some experimental results are shown which generally confirm the predictions.