A DIS-Based Air Cavity Concept for Planing Hull

Reducing fuel consumption and carbon emissions are two of the main concerns of the maritime industry. Among the available energy-saving devices or solutions, one of the most promising is air lubrication, which has been extensively studied in the last decades, especially for drag reduction on displacement hulls. Compared to displacement hulls, planing and semi-planing hulls have different hydrodynamic behaviour since the resistance and running attitudes are significantly influenced by the hydrodynamic component of pressure, which it terms can influence the effectiveness of the air lubrication solution. This study proposes an air lubrication solution for a planing workboat that combines the airflow injection with an air cavity provided by a DIS (Double Interceptor System) implementation. The results of experimental and CFD simulations campaign with natural and forced airflow injection combined with a cavity generated by DIS are presented. The drag resistance improvement and the airflow details have been analyzed by the use of a systematic variation in the airflow rate.