Wave-making Resistance
A ship moving over the surface of undisturbed water sets up waves emanating mainly from the bow and stern of the ship. The waves created by the ship consist of divergent and transverse waves. The divergent waves are observed as the wake of a ship with a series of diagonal or oblique crests moving outwardly from the point of disturbance. These waves were first studied by Lord Kelvin, who found that regardless of the speed of the ship, they were always contained in the 19 degree (each side) symmetric wedge following the ship. The divergent waves do not cause much resistance against the ships forward motion. However, the transverse waves appear as troughs and crests along the length of a ship and constitute the major part of the wave-making resistance of a ship. The energy associated with the transverse wave system travels at one half the phase velocity or the group velocity of the waves. The prime mover of the vessel must put additional energy into the system in order to overcome this expense of energy. The relationship between the velocity of ships and that of the transverse waves can be found by equating the wave celerity and the ship’s velocity.
Read more about this topic: Ship Resistance And Propulsion
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