SHIP WITH BOTTOM AIR CAVITY

摘要

The invention relates to the field of designing displacement vessels with an air cavity on the bottom. A displacement vessel has a recess in the bottom for the formation of a single air cavity with a wave-like profile, the recess beginning at a step in the bow and being delimited by skegs along the sides and a stern arch in the form of an inclined plate. The cavity of the recess is connected to a pressurized air supply; inside the recess there are longitudinal keels to restrict the transverse movement of the air, and transverse baffles in the form of inclined plates are arranged one after the other in a streamwise direction such that they can be deployed into a working position and folded back adjacent to the bottom. Downstream of the step in the bow which forms the recess, a plate is mounted such that it can pivot by means of the lowering or raising of the leading edge thereof about a spindle that is transverse to the bottom, said spindle being connected to the plate and being fastened to the surface of the bottom recess. The streamwise length of the plate is such that as the plate pivots about the spindle it joins the surface of the bottom upstream of the step with the surface of the bottom inside the recess in order to prevent flow separation downstream of the step. The plate is capable of limiting the lowering of its leading edge to the level of the bottom of the ship in the region of the step. The invention provides a ship with improved performance characteristics.