Review of Hydrodynamics of High-Speed Marine Vehicles by Odd M. Faltinsen: Cambridge University Press, New York, 2006. Price: $100.00. pp. 454.

Practicing engineers, planners, and decision makers usually consider a high-speed vessel as a craft with a maximum operating speed higher than 30 knots. However, a 50-knot speed is usually assumed to be the limit for high-speed vessels, since cavitation problems start to occur as the pressure on the suction side of a hull approaches the vapor pressure. Supercavitating hulls and propellers are required to increase the speed barrier beyond 50 knots.

The hydrodynamicists use Froude number $F_n=U∕\sqrt{gL}>0.4$ to characterize a high-speed vessel, where $U$ is the ship's speed; $L$ is the submerged length of the ship; and $g$ is gravitational acceleration. In general, for ships operating with maximum speed in the range $0.4<F_n<1.0$ , the hydrodynamic pressure that depends on the flow around ship’s hull and that is proportional to the square of the ship's speed dominates the hydrostatic pressure (i.e., buoyancy force). This applies to so-called high-speed semidisplacement vessels supported by submerged hulls.

In the naval architecture and marine engineering community, there are still technical and operational challenges concerning the design and operation of high-speed marine vehicles (HSMV). However, the concept has matured significantly over the past 50 years, and it is primarily the impact of these vessels on coastal and maritime population in recent years that has begun to attract more attention to HSMVs. Perhaps the most recognized issue is the coastal erosion, frequently attributed to HSMVs operating in restricted waterways and coastal inlets, entrances and estuaries. There are also concerns about the operational safety of these vessels, specifically their hydrodynamic stability, seakeeping, and so on. Since technical and operational aspects of HSMVs are closely intertwined, it is necessary to familiarize the public with the hydrodynamics of these crafts, since safe operation and design rely on hydrodynamics. In the early 1990s, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and other national entities began to review and revise the applicable Code of Safety for High Speed Crafts. Vessel size, speed and payload (passengers and cargoes) restrictions have been imposed by some local and state agencies in certain parts of the United States.

From a coastal engineering standpoint, waves generated by high-speed vessels are sometimes called the wash or wash effects. These waves have been attributed to some swimming accidents and coastal erosion. Consequently, the decay of ship-induced waves at distances far from the vessel’s course is an important issue in coastal planning. When ship-generated waves move into shallow waters, their wavelength decreases and their amplitude increases, forcing waves to break on beaches. Wave-induced currents from breaking waves can catch swimmers off guard and cause problems for moored vessels. Moored ships may experience large-amplitude low-frequency motions and dynamic mooring loads caused by the passage of high-speed vessels. Further amplification of these waves could occur because of wave reflection from coastlines, river banks, jetties, breakwaters, or quay walls along navigation routes of high-speed vessels. These waves may cause damage to the environment and to people living in coastal communities.

Various ship-induced problems that are loosely referred to as the wash may include such problems as wave runup, overtopping, erosion, inundation, rip currents, and mooring issues. There is no simple criterion in terms of maximum wave amplitude for quantifying these and other effects of wash on shorelines, beaches, coastal, and riverine structures, as well as on other ships affected by the passage of high-speed vessels. Some local government agencies now require a detailed analysis of the effect on other free-floating or moored vessels’ response that might occur close to the navigation routes of high-speed vessel traffic.

As a naval architect, I found the book by Professor Faltinsen to be a good source of information on a number of special topics related to high-speed vessels. It provides a comprehensive treatment of several subjects specific to the hydrodynamics of high-speed vehicles supported by submerged hulls, air cushions, foils, or hybrids. Using his expert knowledge of ship hydrodynamics, the author provides readers with both rational and simplified methods in the characterization of wave environment and wash; wave loadings and slamming; wave-excited resonant oscillations of air-cushion and hydrofoil vessels; propulsion and resistance; seakeeping, sinkage and trim; and maneuvering associated with high-speed vessels. These subjects are discussed in 10 chapters in the book. The book includes an appendix, references and index sections. Exercises are provided at the end of chapters for classroom teaching purposes. For practicing engineers, this book would have benefited if it included more worked examples to demonstrate application of theory and concepts.

A summary of chapters is as follows. Chapter 1 is the introduction, with a discussion on operational limits and hydrodynamic optimization process used in the present design of these vessels. Chapter 2 covers issues pertaining to resistance and propulsion requirements. Waves are discussed in Chapter 3, whereas, wave resistance and wash are described in Chapter 4. Surface-effect ships are described in Chapter 5, including the added resistance and speed loss and seakeeping characteristics in waves. Foil theory and hydrofoil vessels are described in Chapter 6, together with a description of wave-induced motions in head and following seas. Wave loads and ship responses for semidisplacement vessels at zero speed and at high speed are described in Chapter 7. Wave slamming, whipping and springing effects are discussed in Chapter 8. Planning vessels (i.e., hydrodynamic force mainly balances the vessel weight) are introduced in Chapter 9. Maneuvering issues are addressed in Chapter 10. The Appendix has a list of units of measurement and physical constants used in the book. An extensive list of up-to-date references is followed by an index.

In general, this book will appeal more to graduate students and researchers because of its excellent coverage of special topics that may not be included in traditional marine hydrodynamics textbooks. The book is an excellent technical resource for information about high-speed vessels, since as it provides a summary of relevant recent research and references. The book is not crafted for practitioners, who may like to pick up a set of design guidelines and start designing. The reader must be familiar with structural mechanics and dynamics of marine vehicles and the basic hydrodynamics of potential and viscous flows of incompressible fluid. Familiarity with concepts of computational fluid dynamics (CFD), automatic control theory, and data analysis and interpretation are also helpful when reading parts of this book. In general, knowledge of basic mathematics, calculus, vector analysis, differential equations, is a prerequisite for understanding and effectively using this book. Other than the introduction, much of the book offers a number of formulas and methods of calculating different engineering estimates by discussing the method that may be most appropriate (and when). The book would benefit by including some distinct design-oriented procedures that use worked example problems. It is important to see the results of laboratory and field measurements incorporated into these worked problems.

In summary, this book will be extremely useful in my own work as a practicing engineer and scientist dealing with coastal problems related to the effects of high-speed vehicles—including navigation studies for safety and risk, ship-generated waves and associated consequences, and ship hydrodynamics parameters entering into the channel design process, as well as in the maintenance and repair of coastal inlet structures to protect ship traffic in ports, harbors, and marinas. The uniqueness and strength of this book is the amount of technical information contained in a single source on design and operational safety of high-speed vehicle hydrodynamics. I highly recommend this book to naval architects and marine and coastal engineers. This book is a valuable desktop reference for planners, designers, and decision makers involved in various issues concerning high-speed vessels.