Fixed pods with control surface configurations

摘要

Specification of azimuthing pod drives is growing slowly as the attractions are recognised by operators of various ship classes. Here, Wendy Ball, from QinetiQ's experimental and theoretical hydrodynamics division at Haslar, revisits some of the still highly relevant experiments carried out nearly 12 years ago with fixed pods - at a time when many naval architects considered azimuthing designs with electric motors inside them to be too revolutionary. Work at Haslar is still continuing on associated themes, as we noted in the short article in our July/August 2002 edition, page 17. In 1993, when azimuthing podded drives on ships were dismissed by some elements of the ship design community as too mechanically demanding a method of controlling a vessel, experts at the Haslar model tank in the UK performed some force measurements on various model pod and rudder combinations. Although azimuthing is today quite normal for podded drive, problems have arisen which do mean that consideration of a flap-rudder integral with the pod-strut has some attractions.