SHIP MODEL WAKE ANALYSIS BY MEANS OF LDV IN LARGE CIRCULATING WATER CHANNEL

The wake survey at the propeller disc is a typical step in conventional and non-conventional ships design. Laser Doppler Velocimetry can be a deep tool in order to improve the knowledge of ship wake flows. The adoption of such technique for this kind of applications has become feasible and allows one to obtain a detailed and reliable picture of the flow field, in particular for the turbulent features. In the present work the flow in the wake of a ship model was studied by means of an underwater LDV system, at the INSEAN Circulating Water Channel. The results of the analysis of the wake past a mono-propeller ship tanker model are presented. The threedimensional low field in the plane of the propeller disc is described, including turbulence features, in a qualitative comparison with a wall paint flow visualisation.