Investigate the Drag Resistance of Antifouling Self-Adhesive Film

Abstract

Fouling has always been a common issue for ships as fouling drastically increases the surface roughness and ship resistance. The microfiber self-adhesive antifouling film is claimed to be effective up to 5 years and is environmentally friendly. However, there is lack of information about the drag characteristics of the antifouling material. Thus, this project is conducted based on an experimental study to determine the drag characteristics of the surface installed with microfiber self-adhesive antifouling film. The rotor apparatus is used to study the coefficient of friction of the microfiber surface. From the experimental results, a flat plate simulation using ANSYS-Fluent is conducted to further estimate the coefficient of friction up to Reynolds number of 10⁹ and to evaluate the total ship resistance for the Semi-SWATH (fast vessel) and KVLCC (slow trading ships). The results show that the percentage increase in total ship resistance for the KVLCC is about 80%, which is more than the Semi-SWATH of 30%, as frictional resistance has high significance for slow trading ships. The speed drop experienced by the ship model installed with the microfiber antifouling is 2 knots for the KVLCC and 1 knot for the Semi-SWATH if the power remained the same for both models.