Table Of ContentHigh Performance Marine Vessels
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Liang Yun Alan Bliault
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High Performance
Marine Vessels
Liang Yun Alan Bliault
Marine Design and Research A.S Norske Shell
Institute of China Sola, Norway
Shanghai, China
ISBN 978-1-4614-0868-0 e-ISBN 978-1-4614-0869-7
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-0869-7
Springer New York Dordrecht Heidelberg London
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Preface
Speed is not simply about velocity in air or water but should be considered in context
with its purpose and the tools available. Until recently in historical terms, the motive
power available for travel over the water was manpower itself or wind. Over many
centuries sailing vessels have been refi ned so that they could harness more of its
power effi ciently, and reach higher into an oncoming wind so as to perform a more
direct route to the objective. The wind is not available to order nevertheless, and so
“speed” achieved is not constant.
The invention of reciprocating engines, initially steam driven, made a step change
for maritime transport, just as it did on land a little over two centuries ago. It changed
the meaning of speed over water, since not only could a vessel be designed to travel
directly to its destination, but also could transport much greater payloads than pos-
sible previously, and could deliver independent of the weather environment.
In the fi rst century of powered marine craft, speeds increased from around
20 knots to about double that. At such speed, there are challenges even for large
craft due to rapid increase of drag on the hull if a boat continues to try to push its
way through. The propeller driving such a vessel also loses effi ciency due to a phe-
nomenon known as cavitation unless specially designed to harness it.
In the early part of the twentieth century, pioneering engineers conquered both
problems and developed planing craft that could travel much faster by skimming
over the water surface. The racing fraternity that grew in this period took things to
the limit and produced craft that were in danger of fl ying if a stray gust of wind
should hit. Commercial and military craft have not tested these boundaries quite so
close, even though in the last half century service speeds for passenger ferry trans-
port have doubled.
The search for more speed—humanity has a tendency always to seek more—has
been enabled through increasingly effi cient and lightweight power plants such as
high-speed diesels and gas turbine engines, and lighter and stronger structural mate-
rials (aluminium alloy, GRP, titanium alloy), that have enabled designers of fast
boats, hydrofoils, and air-cushion craft to develop performance close to physical
limits of speed in a seaway.
v
vi Preface
In the last 30 years or so, a revolution in electronics has given us the possibility
for automated stabilization of motions that was simply not possible before, together
with big strides in power plant effi ciency, not to mention satellite navigation. These
have been important enablers to comfort at higher speed and high-speed vessel
development.
A series of new variations of high-speed craft or high-performance marine
vessels (HPMV) have been developed in the last half century, including improved
planing monohull craft from the 1940s, hydrofoils from the 1950s air-cushion vehi-
cles and surface effect ships from the 1960s, small water plane area twin hull craft
from the 1970s, high-speed catamarans from the 1980s, wave piercing craft from
the 1990s, high-speed trimarans in the fi rst decade of twenty-fi rst century, and wing
in ground effect craft from 1970s to the present. These various concepts and the
hybrids that we will describe form an interacting group of vehicle concepts.
Designers, scientists, and various organizations both commercial, military and
governmental have dedicated resources over the last century, and particularly heav-
ily in the last 50 years to fi nd ways that combinations of the hull geometries, hydro-
foils, and static or dynamic air cushions can be used to deliver speedy vessels that
can perform very challenging missions. This work continues, still strongly driven
by military objectives, and increasingly now by energy effi ciency and environmen-
tal impact rather than simply the mission envelope defi ned by speed/payload/
environment/range.
A product such as a high-speed marine vessel can only be successful if it is able
to fulfi l a market requirement in an appropriate way. To deliver people or cargo
effi ciently, there must be a timing fi t, often with other transportation linking in at
each end of the mission. This applies in the military environment just as much as for
Ferries or utility missions. As the other transport elements develop, this also changes
the demand for the marine transport and can affect their continued success in ser-
vice. Until recently it has been the cost of fuel that has played a large part in HPMV
economy. While this continues, the cost inclusive of environmental impact is becom-
ing a strong driver to further develop powering effi ciency.
Both technology and human society are continually developing. To the present
largely fuelled by hydrocarbon-derived energy, this societal development has accel-
erated greatly over the past half century as the population has also grown worldwide
mainly concentrated around large cities. Fast marine craft have matured, while still
having a much wider variety of concepts in use than that available for passenger
aircraft that have converged to a narrow variation around a geometrical confi gura-
tion and mass production. Maybe this is because the range of applications is much
wider for HPMV. It does at least continue to offer opportunities for Aero-Marine
Engineers to be involved in a wide range of concepts and challenging operations!
In this book, we refer to the craft family as HPMV, as the vessels are not only
built for high speed, but may also have other attributes such as amphibious
capability (air-cushion vehicles) or extreme seaworthiness (SWATH). Specialists
from some countries refer to such craft simply as high-speed craft (HSC); however,
the use of HPMV is more common now, and we will use that description and acro-
nym in this book.
Preface vii
The authors have been concerned with HPMV for a long time. Liang Yun has
more than 40 years of experience at the Marine Design and Research Institute of
China, Shanghai (MARIC), and 20 years plus as the Chairman of HPMV Design
subcommittee of the China Society of Naval Architecture and Marine engineering,
CSNAME, as well as organizing the annual International HPMV Conference,
Shanghai, China for a dozen years. He has been involved in ACV development in
China since the very fi rst prototypes were constructed in Harbin in the late 1950s
and has been involved to some extent in design of many other vessel types treated
here. Alan Bliault has also worked in the ACV industry in its early days as a Naval
Architect, but became involved in the offshore oil industry in the early 1980s and so
has led a double life since that time, in order to maintain his connections with the
world of fast marine craft.
Some while ago, we decided to write a series of books on the analysis and design
of different HPMV and have completed two on individual craft: “Theory and Design
of Air Cushion Craft” (2000); “WIG and Ekranoplan, Ground Effect Technology”
(2009) presenting the hydrodynamic and aerodynamic theory behind these two
types. This will be followed by volumes on Catamarans/Trimarans and Monohulls/
Hydrofoils in due course.
We do feel that many people have a strong interest in this technology, however
while many HPMV are in operation in different parts of the world, until now there
has not been a single volume giving an overview, discussing the differences and
special features between them, as well as the approach to selection taken in various
cases for both civil and military applications. So, we present this book entitled
“High-Performance Marine Vessels” for reader’s interest.
We cover as many HPMV concepts as practical within a single volume, with
technical summary descriptions and discussion of the design drivers as an introduc-
tion for a wide readership. We include many pictures and fi gures describing the
shapes and confi gurations as well as features of various HPMV, together with some
tables to introduce the leading particulars of the craft types. Our idea with this book
has been to survey HPMV development, the market drivers, and the responses over
time of the marine construction industry.
The book introduces the HPMV family of craft concepts in Chap. 1 . Chapters
2 – 6 introduce successively the ACV, SES, WIG, Hydrofoils, Monohulls, Catamarans,
Wave piercers, and Trimarans. In Chap. 7 hybrid and novel HPMV confi gurations
are surveyed. A review and comparison of various HPMV, and the strong competi-
tion between various types in the worldwide civil and military markets through their
development and their future prospects is covered in Chap. 8 .
We have included an appendix summarizing the British “InterService Hovercraft
Trials Unit” IHTU, and its successor NHTU as an example of how the military
development provided leverage for a concept development. In the USA, the hydro-
foil was supported through a series of programmes, and in Russia the ekranoplan
followed such a programme. Both are referred to in the main chapters and detail is
available in the references and resources.
If the reader is encouraged by this book to dig deeper, then at the end of this book
there are references used and a listing of sources that are useful in enquiry into
viii Preface
HPMV. The internet can be rather a maze, so we hope this listing can be a help to
home in on useful data without getting too sidetracked.
The book is written particularly for the following readers:
• Students in middle and high schools
• Students and teachers in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, and other
concerned faculties of universities and institutes
• Staff members, technicians, and engineers of marine transportation units,
shipping companies, shipyards, ship research institutes, and other concerned
units for both civil and naval organizations
• All people who are interested in the HPMV in both military and civil
applications
In tracing the historical background to the different craft, we refer to many
famous people in the marine world who have played their part in major technologi-
cal achievements. There are many more than just the names you will meet here, and
we salute all those who have dedicated their lives to these great endeavours. The
results can bring great satisfaction, at least for a while, until the next challenge
appears, and the urge to take the next step becomes imperative. There are of course
disagreements in some areas as to who came up with ideas fi rst or had the greatest
impact. Readers of the Wikipedia can experience this simply by browsing the dis-
cussions behind many entries. In fact we believe it is amazing that such similar ideas
can often surface at opposite sides of the world at similar times, and hope that both
or all sides can celebrate the ideas themselves.
There is still a long way to go before technology development reaches its abso-
lute limits. We are close regarding pure speed, but economy, passenger comfort, and
environmental impact are still signifi cant challenges for the twenty-fi rst century to
grapple with. We will discuss a little of this, and hope some who read this book will
play their part in driving HPMV forward in the future!
The content of the book may seem in a slightly random sequence, dealing with
ACV and WIG craft fi rst. The logic is that these concepts are more out on the edges
of the technology while the monohull, hydrofoil, multihull, and then the hybrids do
follow a more natural sequence and interaction, allowing us to move more smoothly
to a concluding chapter on opportunities. Readers may equally well start at Chap. 4
and move forward, returning to Chaps. 2 and 3 later if they wish.
Shanghai, China Liang Yun
Sola, Norway Alan Bliault
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to express their sincere thanks to the leadership and col-
leagues of the Marine Design and Research Institute of China (MARIC), and China
Society of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering (CSNAME), as well as
Shanghai Association of Shipbuilding Industry (SASI), including Prof. Xing Wen-
Hua (Managing Director, MARIC), Mr. Wang Gao Zhong (Deputy Managing
Director of MARIC), Prof. Huang Ping-Tao, President, CSNAME, Mr. Zhou Zhen-
Bai, President, SASI, and Mr. Yang Xin-Fa, Secretary General, SASI; Senior
Engineers Sun Yong-Hua, Tao Ping-Ping, and Wu Chen-Ji, all of MARIC; Senior
Information Engineer Chiao Yun from MARIC; and Prof. Liang Qi Kang, Former
Managing Director of MARIC.
Thanks also to Jeffrey Hu (computer software engineer) and Kelvin X. Yun
(fi nancial specialist) for their help during the writing of this book.
Image Acknowledgements
We give special thanks to the following for their kind agreement to use their images
(fi gure references in parentheses): The National Gallery, London (1.2); Discovery
Museum, Tyne and Wear (1.5 and 1.7); Airlift Hovercraft (2.67); Supramar (3.30,
3.31, 5.4, 5.15, 5.16); Sea Eagle (3.32a, b); C&S AMT, Bang Wan Chun (3.34a, b);
Wingship Technology Corporation, Jin H Park (3.35); Wigetworks (3.36); Universal
Hovercraft (3.37); The Trireme Trust UK (c)1988 Paul Lipke (4.1) Arnesen
Propulsion Systems (4.13); Lurrsen Shipyards, Klaus Jordan (4.16); Windy Yachts,
Knut Heiberg Andersen (4.19), Millenium Superyachts (4.17); Austal (4.23, 6.4,
6.9, 6.11, 6.24–6.29, 8.25); Incat (4.24, 6.16–6.19, 8.9); Rodriquez (5.17, 5.18,
5.33, 6.10, 8.28); Condor (6.14 and 6.15); ESI/SESEU (7.6a, b, 7.7a–c); Navatek
(7.15a, b); Quinetiq (7.18, 7.19, 7.20, 7.21); M Ship Company (7.22–7.27); Textron
Land & Marine Systems (8.6 and 8.7); Sabdes Design, Scott Blee (8.27);
NaplesImage.com, Jay Nichols (6.13); Turbine Marine (4.15); Bluebird Supporters
Club, Mike Varndell (6.21 and 6.22); BMT Nigel Gee (6.30 and 6.31); Stena Line
ix
x Acknowledgements
(6.7–6.9, 6.20); British Power Boat Racing Club and Graham Stevens (1.11 and
4.14); Boeing (3.29).
We would like to thank John Gifford and the personnel of GriffonHoverwork for
their help with many photos and updated information on amphibious hovercraft in
Chap. 2 .
Our thanks also to Alan Blunden of Fast Ferry International for images 8.10–
8.14 taken on one of his many photographic forays to Hong Kong. Most appreci-
ated. Special thanks also to Brian Russell, who contributed Appendix 1 giving a
taste of the experience gained in the UK through the Interservices and Naval
Hovercraft Trials Units.
We are proud to be able to present publicly available images from the US Navy
and Marines throughout this book, many taken by enthusiastic crew of the various
vessels and the LCAC Craft. Many missions of mercy have been undertaken by
these personnel in the recent past following environmental calamities all over the
world and deserve congratulation for their dedication to this work.
We have used a number of publicly available images from WIKI Commons and
thank the organization for their work. The WIKI is an invaluable source of informa-
tion which is recommended, so long as you take care in interpreting the information
as it is constantly being updated!
Finally heartfelt thanks to our families, who have been very patient over the last
3 years while this book has been in preparation, and to the editorial staff at Springer
who have been consistently encouraging, as well as incredibly patient while the
fi nal product took form.
Liang Yun
Alan Bliault
