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CFD Analysis of Frictional Drag Reduction on the Underneath of Ship's Hull

Using Air Lubrication System

Article · April 2018

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Vijayan S N
Sendhilkumar S.
Karpagam Institute of
Technology Akshaya College of engineering and technology, Coimbatore, India

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International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET)
Volume 9, Issue 4, April 2018, pp. 408–416, Article ID: IJMET_09_04_046
Available online at http://www.iaeme.com/ijmet/issues.asp?JType=IJMET&VType=9&IType=4
ISSN Print: 0976-6340 and ISSN Online: 0976-6359

© IAEME Publication Scopus Indexed

CFD ANALYSIS OF FRICTIONAL DRAG

REDUCTION ON THE UNDERNEATH OF
SHIP’S HULL USING AIR LUBRICATION
SYSTEM
Vijayan.S.N
Assistant Professor, Karpagam Institute of Technology, Coimbatore,

Sendhilkumar.S
Associate Professor, Info Institute of Engineering, Coimbatore,

Kiran Babu.K.M
Assistant Professor, Annasaheb Dange College of Engineering and Technology, Ashta

Duraimurugan G.K and Deepak.P

Assistant Professor, Vels Institute of Science Technology & Advance studies, Chennai

ABSTRACT
Reduction of surface friction between the underneath of ship’s hull surface and
water surface tends to reduce the fuel consumption and attainment of higher speed in
ship. Various researches and methods were going on to reduce the friction for a long
time in ship building industry. Among various methods, air lubrication system is most
effective and easiest to achieve higher speed with minimum consumption of fuel. Also
this method reduces the environmental impacts and an economic one. The present
investigation is focused on frictional drag reduction on the underneath of ship’s hull
by introducing air cavities. Frictional drag has been reduced and increase in speed
occurs during the air lubrication. Numerical results are compared with the results
obtained by without applying air lubrication system.
Keywords: Ship, Air lubrication, Friction, Finite Element Analysis.
Cite this Article: Vijayan.S.N, Duraimurugan G.K, Sendhilkumar.S, Kiran Babu.K.M
and Deepak.P, CFD Analysis of Frictional Drag Reduction on the Underneath of
Ship’s Hull Using Air Lubrication System, International Journal of Mechanical
Engineering and Technology, 9(4), 2018, pp. 408–416.
http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/issues.asp?JType=IJMET&VType=9&IType=4

http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/index.asp 408 editor@iaeme.com

 Vijayan.S.N, Duraimurugan G.K, Sendhilkumar.S, Kiran Babu.K.M and Deepak.P

1. INTRODUCTION
Vessels utilize large quantities of fuel to generate the required propulsive power to overcome
resistance resulting from their motion across ocean surfaces. The ship’s by product such as
nitrogen oxide, carbon dioxide and sulphur oxide emissions significantly contribute to global
climate change and acidification of ocean releases pollutants. These emissions and pollutants
further contribute to environmental problems and surging prices of raw materials, including
oil, arising from the economic growth of developing countries. Approximately 60% of a
typical ship’s propulsive power required to overcome frictional drag. Techniques or practices
can significantly reduce ship's frictional resistance which has a substantial impact both
economically and environmentally. A number of techniques are available to reduce the
viscous drag. The most familiar ones are adding polymers to the flow, the application of
structured surfaces and certain coatings. However, most of them cannot be applied efficiently
on ships because of various practical limitations, including costs.
One of the most promising viscous drag reduction techniques for a ship is so-called air
lubrication. Especially when air forms a stable layer that prevent water contact with the hull.
The present study focuses on drag reduction by providing air cavities underneath a horizontal
surface. The drag reduction by air cavities was acknowledged as a prospective technology for
ships. Air Lubrication System is now a technology which is well proved to provide benefits
such as reduced carbon emissions and substantial fuel savings thereby increasing the speed
and improvement in efficiency of the ship is attained. The air lubrication method, which
reduces the resistance of the hull by using air bubbles. The three general approaches are
injection of air bubbles along the hull, introducing the air films under the hull and air cavities
in the bottom of the hull.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW
In the air lubrication system approach both air layer and partial cavity drag reduction could
lead to net energy savings of 10 to 20%, with corresponding reductions in emissions (1) with
air layers useful in reducing the frictional resistance at specific conditions of air injection in
bulk carrier for getting net power savings (2). Determined the reduction in flow resistance
based on the bubble coverage around the hull also predicts the intrusion of bubbles on the area
of propeller disks, which could deteriorate the performance (3). If properly implemented, it
was estimated that air lubrication could lead to net fuel saving between 5 to 20%, with the
corresponding reduction in NOx, SOx, particulate and CO2 emissions(4). Significant decrease
in underwater noise can be achieved by using gaseous layers on the ship hull and sound
radiation (5). Minimizing the viscous drag and reducing the shipping costs by micro bubble
drag reduction technique with the use of hydrophobic plates to trap and retain air layer (6).
The effect of air lubrication on resistance of a chemical tanker is investigated numerically and
the coefficient of frictional resistance is calculated and the result of air lubricated system is
compared with without air lubrication (7). In fully loaded condition net drag reduction is
almost zero, then at ballast condition 2% net reduction (8). By reducing the friction
improvements of the ship’s efficiency of net up to 20% are deemed feasible. A promising
technique to address the frictional resistance of a ship is insulating the ship from the water by
actively providing an air-layer between ship and water which drastically reduces the
resistance of ships and thereby reducing propulsive power, fuel consumption and
environmental problems (9). Commercial package of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
is being employed to investigate the performance of the system and optimize the parameters
(10).
 CFD Analysis of Frictional Drag Reduction on the Underneath of Ship’s Hull Using Air Lubrication
System

The boundary mixture model is derived to predict the performance of the micro bubble
drag reduction(11).The phenomenon of drag reduction by the injection of micro bubbles into
turbulent boundary layer has been investigated using two numerical models namely two-fluid
inhomogeneous and MUSIG models. Inhomogeneous model, which uses a fixed bubble
diameter, shows a very good comparison of the skin-friction co-efficient with the experiment
(12). Drag reduction caused by micro bubbles injection within the boundary layer has been
investigated in a horizontal channel and the fluctuating velocity components was studied
using high resolution PIV technique (13). The injection of bubbles increases the friction
coefficient by 50% in the case of laminar channel flows. In the transition region from laminar
to turbulent flows, the friction coefficient increases up to two fold because bubbles activate
the turbulent flow transition. The increase in the ratio of the friction coefficient matches that
of the ratio of turbulent to laminar friction coefficients (14).

3. PROBLEM DEFINITION
Ships require large quantities of fuel to generate the propulsive power required to overcome
drag and frictional resistance resulting from their motion across ocean surfaces. The exhaust
releases by products such as nitrogen oxide, carbon dioxide and sulphur oxide emissions
which significantly contribute to the global climate change and acidifications of ocean.
Sailing cost will be increased due to large usage of fuel it will affect the profit of the
company. All these problems can be eliminated by reducing the power required to overcome
drag and frictional resistance without affecting the sailing speed.

SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM

Drag and frictional resistance can be overcome by reducing the frictional contact between
ships surface and water surface through the introduction of air lubrication in the bottom of
hull. The injection of air requires constant pumping power and if the ship sails too slowly it
represents a significant part of the propulsive power. The bubble sizes and location of the
injection points are important parameters in the persistence of drag reduction. The scope of
this work is to compare the resistance of the ship with air lubrication system and without air
lubrication system numerically.

AIR LUBRICATION SYSTEM

Air Lubrication System is a method to reduce the resistance between the ship’s hull and
seawater using air bubbles. The air bubble distribution across the hull surface reduces the
resistance working on the ship’s hull, creating energy-saving effects. With the right ship hull
design, the air lubrication system is expected to achieve up to 10-15% reduction of CO 2
emissions, along with significant savings of fuel. Air lubrication system can offer reduction in
CO2 emission of up to 35% as compared with conventional container ships. Fuel savings and
reduction in carbon emissions is possible through Air lubrication system when combined with
other promising green ship technologies.

4. WORKING PRINCIPLE
Air Lubrication System works on the simple principle of trapping a layer of air bubbles
beneath the ship’s hull. An air blower or a dedicated system is used to generate air bubbles to
pass them continuously beneath the ship’s surface which is shown in figure 1. Air bubble
outlets are created at different locations along the bottom of the hull, symmetrically on both
the sides of the ship’s centre line. The air is blown at a constant rate to form a layer of
bubbles, which reduces the drag and resistance between the ship and the seawater.
 Vijayan.S.N, Duraimurugan G.K, Sendhilkumar.S, Kiran Babu.K.M and Deepak.P

Figure 1 Air lubrication system

Concerns about air lubrication system

Air Lubrication System has a few concerns regarding its implementation and performance on
ships. The Air Lubrication System (ALS) can only be used for certain types of ships having
flat bottoms. Ships having V-shaped hulls, such as certain warships or recreational vessels
might not be able to reap the benefits of the air lubrication system. To trap the layer of
bubbles beneath the ship’s hull is a challenging task. Though solution such as protruding
ridges at the edges of the hull can help in trapping the blanket of bubbles, the sucking effect of
propeller on the bubbles is difficult to defy. It is also feared that the air cavities made for
trapping the air bubbles would affect the handling and stability of the ship at the sea.
The air bubbles leaving the hull surface flow into the ship’s propeller. This can influence
the efficiency, noise, and vibration of the propeller. In order to obtain the desired effect, it is
important that air bubbles are of uniform size and are evenly distributed beneath the hull
surface. Moreover, a change in air bubble diameter would drastically affect the air bubble
distribution beneath the hull.

Figure 2 2D view of air lubrication system

Different Air Lubrication techniques

This section discusses about the available different air lubrication techniques and it is
represented in the Figures 3, 4 & 5. The conceptual difference between the various air
lubrication techniques is also discussed. The three air lubrication regimes are:
 CFD Analysis of Frictional Drag Reduction on the Underneath of Ship’s Hull Using Air Lubrication
System

 Bubble Drag Reduction (BDR)

 Transitional Air Layer Drag Reduction
 Developed Air Layer Drag Reduction (ALDR)

Bubble drag reduction

In Bubble Drag Reduction (BDR), gas is injected into the boundary layer, usually through a
slot, porous material or a perforated plate. The gas is separated into bubbles that reside
predominantly in the boundary layer of the hull, which is clearly represented in figure 3.

Figure 3 Bubble Drag Reductions

The dispersed bubbles act to reduce the density of the air water mixture and to modify
turbulent momentum transport. The technique is sometimes referred to as micro bubble drag
reduction, when the bubbles are very small compared to the boundary layer thickness.

Transitional air layer drag reduction

Figure 4 Transitional Air Layer Drag Reductions

Figure 5 Air Layer Drag Reductions

When gas is injected beneath a horizontal plate, a transition can take place from a bubbly
flow to that of a gas layer. As the gas flux is increased, the friction of the surface covered by
clusters of fragmented air layer increases, until finally a continuous layer covers the entire
surface. The transitional air layer drag reduction is shown in figure 4 and 5.

Partial cavity drag reduction

In Partial Cavity Drag Reduction (PCDR), a recess is created on the bottom of the hull that
captures a volume of gas and creates a cavity of air between the hull and water surface. A
backward-facing step on the upstream end and a gently downward sloping closure on the
downstream side normally form the recess that traps the gas, thus forming a ventilated partial
cavity. Gas is injected continuously into the cavity to maintain it as some gas is lost due to
 Vijayan.S.N, Duraimurugan G.K, Sendhilkumar.S, Kiran Babu.K.M and Deepak.P

entrainment at the cavity closure; however with proper cavity design, this gas loss is
minimized.

5. DESIGN AND ASSUMPTIONS

For calculating the resistance, the barge was taken with the following principal particulars:

Table 1 Dimensions of ship

S.No Description Symbol Value
1 Overall Length, m LOA 128.25
2 Beam, m LBP 17
3 Depth, m B 6.33
4 Draught, m T 2.5
5 Air Bubble diameter, mm d 22.7
6 Air Bubble Flow rate, m3/s 10

Assumptions
The calculation is made without considering the effect of waves. That is the ship is floating in
the still water and the effect of the waves are neglected and the calculated drag is only
frictional drag due to the frictional force between the ship and the water surface and air
bubbles are considered as uniform in size and diameter, flow of air bubbles are also
considered as uniform. The two dimensional side and top view of design is represented in
figure 6 and its model view is shown in figure 7 used for further analysis process.

Figure 6 2D view of Ship with air hole

The results reported are based on a model ship navigating in a straight line using double
model approximation without considering waves on a free surface. The calculations were
performed on the port side only based on the line of symmetry along the hull centreline. The
air bubble distribution around the hull surface is believed to be an important parameter for
reducing the resistance working on the hull, and must therefore be predicted accurately. Here,
the void fraction is the ratio of the air volume to the air–fluid mixture. All the air bubbles
were assumed to be of a uniform diameter and remain unchanged by the flow. Bubble outlets
were created at the bottom of the hull, symmetrically on both sides of the centreline. A
 CFD Analysis of Frictional Drag Reduction on the Underneath of Ship’s Hull Using Air
Lubrication System

velocity boundary was created at the bubble outlet; the air was blown at a constant flow rate
to form the bubbles.

Figure 7 Ship Model with air hole

6. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

With the above settings and the assumptions, the following results were obtained and it is
tabulated below as follows:

Table 2 Velocity vs Drag values

Percentage
Velocity Normal Drag Buffer Drag Decrement
S.No Decrement
(Knots) Value (N) Value (N) in Drag (N)
(%)
1 15 404935 344855 60080 17.42
2 10 188882 158641 30241 19.06
3 5 57713.7 45263 12450 21.57
Table.2 illustrates the results obtained from the analysis. Drag resistance was analysed for
three different velocities such as 15knots, 10knots and 5knots. For these velocities the
obtained result were 404935N, 188882N and 57713.7N respectively without applying air
lubrication. After the introduction of air lubrication system on the underneath of the ship, the
obtained results were 344855N, 158641N and 45263N respectively for the same velocity.
Both drag values clearly shows the decrement in drag.

Figure 8 FEA results of frictional resistance on the bottom of hull surface

 Vijayan.S.N, Duraimurugan G.K, Sendhilkumar.S, Kiran Babu.K.M and Deepak.P

Figure 8 shows the low frictional resistance developed on the bottom surface of hull after
implementing air lubrication system with low frictional resistance on the front portion of hull.
It leads to increase the ship speed.

Figure 9 FEA results of frictional resistance on the water surface

Figure 9 shows the air flow produced on the underneath of ship’s hull which leads to
reduce resistance of ship with water. It clearly illustrates the generation of gap between water
surface and hull surface due to the injection of air which leads to the generation of low
frictional resistance between two surfaces. Figure 9 represents the water velocity during
sailing after introducing air lubrication. Red colour indicates the frictional resistance
generated during sailing which is very low when compared to without air lubrication system.
Ships speed will automatically increase when the frictional drag resistance decreased on the
water surface.

7. CONCLUSION
Frictional drag reduction resistance was reduced by the introduction of air lubrication system
on underneath of ship’s hull. The drag value is reduced when compared with the drag values
obtained from without introduction of air lubrication system. This lubrication system was a
new technology which well proud and provide benefits such as reduced carbon emission and
substantial fuel savings and cost savings also can achieve higher speed of ship.

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