An experimental study of interceptor’s effectiveness on hydrodynamic performance of high-speed planing crafts

Abstract

Trim control mechanisms such as interceptors and trim flaps have been widely used in recent years in highspeed crafts for ride and trim control. In spite of their extensive application, a few studies investigating the impact of interceptors on planing craft performance, have been published. In the present study, the impact of interceptors on planing crafts hydrodynamic quality is investigated through application of an experimental method. Two scaled-down models of high-speed planing mono-hull and catamaran are tested with and without interceptors in calm water at different heights of the interceptors to investigate the effect of interceptors on drag reduction of the models. The first one is a scaled-down model of 11 m planing mono-hull boat and the test was conducted at the towing tank of Sharif University of Technology, Iran. The second one is a scaled-down model of 18 m planing catamaran boat and the test was conducted at the towing tank of Krylov Shipbuilding Research Institute (KSRI), Russia. The experimental results show a remarkable drag reduction of up to 15% for mono-hull model and up to 12% for catamaran model over the wide speed range of the models.