An Empirical Formula to Estimate the Resistance of a Convoy in a Restricted Waterway
An examination of the literature produced very few references related to the subject of estimating the resistance of a convoy navigating in a waterway of limited cross section. This paper reports the findings of one such study—a joint research project undertaken by Belgium's University of Liege and the Bulgarian Ship Hydrodynamics Centre. A polynomial is presented here for evaluating the total resistance of a convoy moving in a restricted waterway. The resistance was found to depend on Froude number and on the relative dimensions (length, width and depth) between the convoy and the channel. The results obtained by the suggested polynomial are compared with those obtained by the other three existing empirical methods.