On the Great Trimaran-Catamaran Debate
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On the Great Trimaran-Catamaran Debate Lawrence J. Doctors, Member, School of MechanicnJ and Manufacturing Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia Abdmct In the cumwtt work, a aydewaatic investigation into a variety of monohulls and mul- tihulls is carried out with an emphasis on finding optimal forms. Vessels with up to six identical subhulls are taken into consideration and a large range of lengths is studied. hT- thermore, sidehuli trimaran configurations are included in the investigation. There are two main purposes to this investigation. Firstly, one is interested in mini- mizing the wave resistance, becawe this is closely related to the wave generation and is of critical importance to the operation of river ferries. Secondly, it is also important to min- imize the total resistance, in order to reduce fuei costs and to permit long-range trips for ocean-going vessels. The theoretical predictions show that increasing the length beyond that normally accepted is beneficial in reducing both the wave Resistance and often the total resistance. I. the goal is to minimize wave resistance and if the length is constrained, the calculations also demon- strate that trimarans are superior to catamarans, which are in turn superior to monohulls. On the other hand, if the goal is to minimize the total resistance, then all the muh!ihulis (~m catamarans to hezamarans) are inferior to monohulls, except possibly at low speeds which are not of interest in thw study. Similarly, sidehull trimarans are shown to be inferior to catamarans except perhaps if rather great lengths are permitted. Nomenclature r = Longitudinal stagger of sidehulls x = Longitudinal coordinate B= Waterline beam Transverse coordinate CA = Correlation allowance Y= z = Vertical coordinate cB = Block coefficient Cp = Prismatic coefficient A= Displacement mass F = Froude number v= Displacement volume Fv = Volumetric Froude number L– Waterline length = Trim j5/@/3 : Slenderness coefficient P 6 = Stern wedge angle Nhull = Number of subhulls R= Resistance Dedication RA = Correlation resistance RF = liMctional resistance The author would like to dedicate this paper to the RH = Hydrostatic resistance late Sir Christopher Sydney Cockerell (1910 to 1999), RT z Total resistance the inventor of that remarkable form of high-speed RW = Wave resistance marine transportation, the hovercraft, or air-cushion T= Draft vehicle. The first large person-carrying machine, the u = Speed SRN1, was launched forty years ago in May 1959. Be- u= Mean speed cause the hovercraft possesses virtually no frictional w= Weight resistance and low wave resistance, it is still the marine vehicle which can claim the highest transport factor or 9= Acceleration due to gravity efficiency for calm-water operation. 283 1 Introduction ran as well as its response in head seas. Following that effort, Doctors, Renilson, Parker, and Hornsby (1991) 1.1 Background presented the results of an investigation into a modern ferry catamaran, the RiverCat, which is characterized In recent years, considerable interest has been as having very slender hulls. They demonstrated that shown in reviving the trimaran concept. The justifica- the traditional thin-ship theory could be used to good tion for the expenditure of research and development effect to predict the resistance behavior of this full-size effort on this type of vessel is as follows: the essential vessel. claim is that a very slender monohull would exhibit the The monohull has not escaped the attention of lowest overall resistance, particularly at high speeds, latter-day researchers in the quest to discover im- when compared with either the traditional monohull proved forms, but now in much slenderer forms in or- or the catamaran, However, the optimal monohull is der to minimize its resistance. It has been been gener- so slender that it would be laterally unstable. Hence, ally shown that as the length of the vessel is increased the design must be slightly compromised by adding beyond that traditionally considered acceptable, so the sidehulls with a displacement which is relatively small wave resistance is reduced and the frictional increased compared with the displacement of the main hull. is increased, as would be anticipated if the displace- To better understand the philosophy of the de- velopment of vessels with more than one hull or sub- ment is to be maintained constant during this stretch- ing process. The optimal length for the minimal total hull, it is worthwhile to consider some of the literature drag is much greater than that normally chosen. Un- on the most ‘traditional” of modern multihull vessels, fortunately, such optimal lengths lead to vessels which the catamaran. An example of research in this area are laterally unstable, It has been suggested that this is the work of Everest (1968), who reported results of problem can be solved by using small outriggers; a cu- both towing-tank resistance experiments and compu- tations. He expounded on the matter of interactions rious example is the Super Outrigger vessel proposed by Daniel and Daniel (1990). This vessel would employ a between the wave systems generated by the two demi- single outrigger on one side, which has the advantage hulls, as well as viscous interactions between them. Good agreement was achieved between the predictions of possessing less resistance than the more obvious lat- and the measurements. erally symmetric layout requiring two such outriggers. Turner and Taplin (1968) did their experiments on Slender monohnlls were also the subject of research a catamaran whose demihulls were laterally asymmet- by Jullumstr@, Leppanen, and Sirvi6 (1993), who con- ric. It is thought that this feature was selected in order firmed the necessity for large values of the slenderness to minimize vortex shedding at the demibows due to coefficient in order to reduce the resist ante. cross-flow effects. Laterally symmetric demihulls were In recent years, considerable interest has been dis- also tested and these were found to be better in terms played in trimaran designs. The general philosophy of resistance at lower speeds only, supporting this investment of research effort, as noted The importance or otherwise of demihull asymme- above, is that from a purely hydrodynamic-resistance try was also the subject of work by Yokoo and Tasaki point of view, the slender monohull appears to be (1969a and 1969b). Their conclusions appear to be the best choice. The outriggers are added only to somewhat different in that asymmetric hulls were sig- provide lateral static stability. Therefore, the ques- nificantly bet ter over the entire speed range, with re- tion is how one can minimize the severe drag imposed spect to the total resistance. Pien (1976) studied both by the sidehulls, which is caused by their large wet- catamarans and smrdl-waterplane twin-hull (SWATH) ted surface in relation to the gained buoyancy. An ships in his work. Unozawa and Shimizu (1977) con- early paper following this path was written by Wil- centrated their efforts on other design aspects, such as son and Hsu (1992). Different longitudinal positions seakeeping and structural loads — rather than on the of the sidehulls were considered, as well as different resistance alone. Kusaka, Nakamura, and Kunitake hull forms. These concepts were analyzed within the (1980) analyzed a SWATH, with a view to minimiz- framework of linearized ship-resistance theory, with ing the wave resistance. They developed optimal hull the aim of gaining favorable wave interferences be- forms, based on the wave-resistance theory of Michell tween the hulls. Towing-tank experiments were also (1898). conducted and these verified their theoretical predic- More recently, Doctors (1991) did a series of calcu- tions. Similar work was done by Suzuki and Ikehata lations for both resistance and motions of catamarans. (1993), in which five different positions for the two In that work, he showed that by increasing within rea- sidehulls were examined. son the slenderness of the demihulls, one could gener- Summers and Eddison (1995) carried out a care- ally reduce both the overall resistance of the catama- ful investigation on a trimaran frigate which not only 284 z z z Pointed–stern parent hull A Z-kA’-I I Figure 1: Definition of the Problem Figure 1: Definition of the Problem (a) Principal Dimensions (b) Pointed-Stern Parent Hull z Blended-stern parent hull % Transom-stern parent hull & A Figure 1: Definition of the Problem Figure 1: Definition of the Problem (c) Blended-Stern Parent Hull (d) Transom-Stern Parent Hull included the matter of resistance, They were also Sirvio, and Yli-Rantala (1995). concerned about motions and safety after a specified A very extensive experimental study was reported amount of damage, They demonstrated distinct re- by Ackers, Michael, Tredennick, Landen, Miller III, sistance advantages in comparison with conventional Sodowsky, and Hadler (1997). In this study, a sys- monohulls as well as reduced pitching in head waves. tematic set of towing-tank tests was conducted, in Work on the same project was reported by Pattison which the sidehulls were positioned in several locations and Zhang (1995) and Andrews and Zhang (1995). both longitudinally and laterally at different Froude The last two papers included a brief history behind numbers. They supplied a number of contour plots the trimaran concept and mention was made of one of providing data on the interference effects on the re- the early examples in recent times, the Ihm Voyager. sist ante. For one particular configuration, they too Trimarans with slender main hulls were also studied by demonstrated the superiority of this trimaran in com- Li, Tieli, and Huang (1993). Not unexpectedly, their parison to the equivalent frigate, at the higher speeds theoretical predictions also indicated a lower resistance being contemplated. for the trimaran compared with that of a standard One of the most mathematical optimization stud- monohull. Furthermore, they showed that the relative ies was that of Lazauskas and Tuck (1998).