Hydrodynamic development of Inclined Keel Hull-propulsion

The gain in propulsive efficiency using a large propeller diameter with lower shaft rotation is perhaps the simplest and most robust way of improving the fuel economy of a ship. Within this framework the concept of “Inclined Keel Hull” has attracted much interest in small vessels such as fishing boats and tug boats to improve their pulling power however there has been no application of this concept to large commercial ships. This is the second of two papers on a hydrodynamic development of an Inclined Keel Hull with a well-designed 3600 TEU container vessel based on the recently completed postgraduate study, ( Seo, 2010). In the first paper (Seo et al., 2012) the validation for the bare hull resistance and wake distribution on the propeller plane was conducted by using advanced numerical tools and large scale model tests as part of an on-going collaborative FP7-EU research project, Streamline (2010). The present paper is the continuation of the validation study for the propulsion analysis of the same vessel by using numerical analysis and large scale self-propulsion tests as part of the same project. The validation study confirmed the worthiness of the Inclined Keel Hull concept by achieving a 4.3% maximum power saving in the delivered power around design speed.

► We introduced an inclined keel concept to install a larger propeller diameter.
► We examined the resistance of vessels using numerical study and large scale of model tests.
► Two propellers were designed and manufactured based on the numerical study and experiment.
► Model tests with designed propeller verified the worthiness of IKH concept by achieving 4.3% power saving.