Effect of barnacle fouling on ship resistance and powering

Abstract

Predictions of added resistance and the effective power of ships were made for varying barnacle fouling conditions. A series of towing tests was carried out using flat plates covered with artificial barnacles. The tests were designed to allow the examination of the effects of barnacle height and percentage coverage on the resistance and effective power of ships. The drag coefficients and roughness function values were evaluated for the flat plates. The roughness effects of the fouling conditions on the ships’ frictional resistances were predicted. Added resistance diagrams were then plotted using these predictions, and powering penalties for these ships were calculated using the diagrams generated. The results indicate that the effect of barnacle size is significant, since a 10% coverage of barnacles each 5 mm in height caused a similar level of added power requirements to a 50% coverage of barnacles each 1.25 mm in height.