Experimental Study on the Influence of Hull Spacing on Hard-Chine Catamaran Motions

An experimental program was performed with hard-chine catamaran models in regular waves. The distance between the demi-hulls of the models was changed to assess its effects on the wave-induced motions. The results allowed the study of some aspects related to catamaran motions, like the interference between the hulls and resonance frequencies. The experimental results are compared with calculations performed with a recently developed code based on a two-dimensional potential flow theory in which viscous forces are included through a cross-flow drag approach. The effect of the hull distance in the heave and pitch motion responses and the importance of the viscous forces in such hull configurations are shown.