An experimental investigation of the trim effect on the behaviour of a containership in shallow water

A new division of the Suez Canal in Egypt, termed the New Suez Canal, was opened for international navigation in August 2015. It is therefore important to ensure the safety of ships navigating this new section of the canal. Measures to avoid grounding and/or drifting to the canal banks are necessary. Additionally, accurate prediction data for ship squat and under keel clearance is crucial.
This paper presents the results of experimental work carried out at the Kelvin Hydrodynamic Laboratory at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, to study the effect of trim on containership sailing characteristics in shallow waters using Kriso Container Ship (KCS) model.
A series of model tests were conducted to measure the resistance, sinkage variations with speed, water depth and loading conditions under different trimming angles at 1:75 scale. The objective of this work is to examine the range of ship trim for safe and efficient sailing in restricted water in both depth and width. The study also aimed to provide data to be used in validating numerical computations to be carried on the same type of vessel to detect the best trim angle for ships during sailing in restricted waters to reduce resistance and therefore fuel consumption.
For depth Froude numbers higher than 0.4, the results show that the ship model sinkage is less for aft trim than for level trim or forward trim. Concurrently, it can be observed that there is less water resistance for aft trim than for forward trim, albeit level trim shows the least resistance. The test was conducted for one value of model draft which was 0.144 m. Side bank effects were also examined.