Dag Pike looks at a research facility being set up in Italy by a builder specialising in fast patrol-type vessels Up to now, most research into high-speed craft has been carried out mainly on full size craft and developments in hull designs have been based largely on experience with earlier concepts. This particularly applies to smaller craft up to around 15m in length and to craft travelling at over 50knots. Larger fast craft have been able to be evaluated by model tests, but even for the larger craft the facilities for tank testing are becoming limited by the model testing speeds or by the size of the model that can be tested. Now a new facility is being established in Italy that will enable tank testing of high-speed craft to be carried out at model speeds in excess to 30m/s, faster than any other facility. This new facility will not only be capable of testing models, but has also been designed so that it can be used for testing new designs of high speed propulsion systems including surface drives, something that has not been easy to realise with current equipment.
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