TOWING TANK TESTS OF EQUIVALENT TRIMARAN AND PENTAMARAN HULLS

The paper deals with experimental towing task tests of two equivalent multihull fast ships: the same main hull in trimaran and pentamaran configuration. An extensive set of model tests results, performed at the University of Genova on a 2m long model (1:50 scale), are presented in terms of total resistance and dynamic attitude at different position of the side hulls for the trimaran and pentamaran configuration, over the full speed range of Fn=0.30 - 0.62. Interesting conclusions will be drawn in the paper about the effects of the longitudinal and transversal position of the side hulls on the residual resistance, on the total resistance and on dynamic trim and sinkage at high speed. The results of resistance tests are completely released in the paper in form of graphs and also in table. The comparison of the lowest resistance of pentamaran and trimaran configuration will give interesting conclusions about the benefit of having four side hulls instead of just two.