Ship Hydrodynamics Resources
IIHR has been a leader in naval ship design for decades, and continues to forge new areas of research today. Under the leadership of IIHR Research Engineer Fred Stern, the institute has developed a unique combination of top researchers and outstanding resources and facilities, including:
IIHR Towing Tank: Located in the basement of C. Maxwell Stanley Hydraulics Lab, the IIHR towing tank has provided researchers with more than 50 years of experimental data. When noted researcher Lou Landweber left the David Taylor Model Basin (DTMB) and joined IIHR in the mid-1950s, he helped build IIHR into one of the nation’s leading ship hydrodynamics research programs. Researchers here have focused mainly on ship hydrodynamics, with an emphasis on free-surface flows as they relate to resistance and propulsion. However, present towing tank work focuses on seakeeping and maneuvering problems, as the traditionally separate areas of resistance and propulsion, seakeeping, and maneuvering begin to merge and CFD methods improve and are able to handle increasingly complex ship hydrodynamics problems.
Wave Basin Facility: In 2010, IIHR completed a new $4.9 million state-of-the-art wave basin facility to further develop the ship hydrodynamics program. Research engineers use the 40x20x3-meter wave basin to test captive or radio-controlled model-scale navy ships under a variety of real-life conditions, created by the basin’s six wavemakers. The free-moving models can maneuver just like real ships—straight ahead, zigzag, full circle, and even capsize. A custom eight-ton overhead carriage tracks the radio-controlled ships using indoor global positioning and two-camera vision, shadowing the vesse4ls to within +/- 100 mm. A 3D particle image velocimetry system measures fluid velocities around the ships, facilitating the collection of detailed flow data. IIHR’s wave basin is the first to include local flow measurement capabilities, critical for continued development of simulation-based design.
Click on any photo below to see a photo gallery:
- Fixed model ship in the IIHR towing tank.
- IIHR’s towing tank is one of the world’s most advanced.
- Computer simulations at IIHR guide model-scale physical experiments in the towing tank.
- IIHR has been an important player in U.S. naval ship design since 1948.
- The towing tank is located in the basement of the C. Maxwell Stanley Hydraulics Lab.
- IIHR’s new wave basin.
- A model-scale radio-controlled ship sets sail in the wave basin.
- The model-scale ships are free-moving and can maneuver like real ships.
- The wave basin allows measurement of local flow around a free-running model — something that’s never been done before.
- The Tigerhawk on the wave basin’s floor is the world’s largest.
- Making waves in the 40x20x30-meter wave basin.
- The overhead carriage was custom-built for IIHR’s wave basin.
- The six wavemakers can create a tempest in the wave basin.
- IIHR Director Larry Weber (left) and IIHR Research Engineer Fred Stern look on as a model-scale ship makes its way across the wave basin.
- Fred Stern, UI professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, has been instrumental in developing the ship hydrodynamics program.
