Long-term performance prediction of oscillating wings for assisting ship propulsion at actual seas

In order to raise ship energy efficiency, the possibility of wave energy recovery by a pair of coilspring connected oscillating wings for assisting ship propulsion in waves is investigated. A frequency domain hydrodynamic model based on potential theory is established to predict the effect of the oscillating wings on the ship in regular waves, in terms of reducing wave-added resistance and improving seakeeping performance. The proposed linear model is suitable for short-term prediction based on conventional spectral analysis techniques, thus making it possible to evalute the long-term performance of oscillating wings for assisting ship propulsion at actual seas based on wave statistics. A sample containership is adopted to study the performance of the proposed concept. The results show that the oscillating wings can effectively reduce the added resistance of the ship at actual seas. The feasibility of this green ship technology is proved.