Investigation of the influence of an interceptor on the inlet velocity distribution of a waterjet-propelled ship using SPIV technology and RANS simulation

ABSTRACT

To illustrate the effect of interceptor installation on waterjet-ship wake fields, inlet velocity distribution of a semi-planing waterjet-propelled ship operating under inlet-closed state has been assessed via stereo particle image velocimetry (SPIV) measurements and Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) simulations. Results reveal that interceptor installation yields substantial drag reduction (6.06% on average) and alts the ship's sailing attitude whilst blocking the water flow in its installation area. Results of SPIV measurements demonstrated good agreement with those obtained via simulations, accurately capturing velocity characteristics in regions affected by fin stabilisers. Interceptor installation was observed to increase boundary-layer thickness near its installation location whilst lowering velocity across the capture area and reducing momentum and energy velocity coefficients by 2.1% and 4.1%, on average, respectively. As observed, changes in the ship's sailing attitude negligibly influenced the velocity distribution; instead, the interceptor's retarding effect was observed to be the main factor driving changes in inlet velocity distribution of waterjet-propelled ships.

KEYWORDS:

• Interceptor
• stereo particle image velocimetry
• waterjet
• inlet velocity distribution
• retarding effect

Acknowledgments

This work was undertaken in response to the research project titled ‘High Technology Ship Scientific Research Project’ performed by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology [MIIT2016, 26] (China).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Ke-wei Song http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8924-7859

Chun-yu Guo http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7685-0130

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 51379043], [grant number 51209048], [grant number 51409063].