Duke University Wants to Make Boats Faster with 'Fluid Flow Cloak'

[offline]

Water geeks rejoice.. Duke was developed tech that tricks water into thinking your boat/ship/submarine isn't there.

Effortless sailing with fluid flow cloak

[brutb]

They tried this with aircraft wings to reduce drag several years ago. The problem is the holes fill with dirt and now the wings don't have equal lift and/ordrag. Makes it hard to control. With a boat I can see problems with the green stuff and barnacles...

[David M]

What?!

I don't know but it seems someone needs to check their facts. The only way you could stop the flow around the hull is if you could compress the water. Water must move aft as a ships displacement moves forward, with respect to the surrounding water.

The other question is, how much energy is it going to take to run all these pumps? Is it more or less energy than the energy saved by having this system?

The third question is, what sponge material stops fouling?

I don't know if it could work or not, just asking some obvious questions which were not addressed.

[dacust]

Originally Posted by David M

What?!

I don't know but it seems someone needs to check their facts. The only way you could stop the flow around the hull is if you could compress the water. Water must move aft as a ships displacement moves forward, with respect to the surrounding water.

The other question is, how much energy is it going to take to run all these pumps? Is it more or less energy than the energy saved by having this system?

The third question is, what sponge material stops fouling?

I don't know if it could work or not, just asking some obvious questions which were not addressed.

All your questions are valid except one where I think you just missed the explanation.

The pumps would compress the water, well, not much, but put it under pressure so it would move more water in a small tube.

So, at a point forward on the hull where it would normally have to be pushing water aside, the pumps would remove that water. Then in the back, at a place of low pressure, the water would be re-intorduced. So, a steady pressure would be maintained everywhere on the hull.

This, of course, would be massively complex. And, at least with todays technology, totally impractical. But, in theory, it would work.

That is, it would work except for the other points you brought up.

-dan

[TaoJones]

Perhaps the explanation, here, will help:

Proposed 'fluid flow cloak' might greatly reduce ships' hydrodynamic drag

TaoJones

[sdowney717]

how about a super hydro phobic material that entraps a layer of air against the surface. Boat hull cant get wet so no growth and also boats slippery runs like air hockey puck.

New Super-Hydrophobic Material Could Revolutionize the Water Repellent Market - Associated Content from Yahoo! - associatedcontent.com

The material is ORNL nano-structured. According to Simpson it is a "glass powder coating material," which can be applied to any surface. It repels any water-based solution by creating a layer of air on the surface it is applied to. This layer of air is microscopically thin, but remains, even if the object is under water.

i would love to paint on a coating that keeps the bottom dry. dry hull no barnacles.
perhaps you could contact these people and suggest a barnacle boat study.