Measurement and Analysis of a Ship Superstructure Wake Under Static and Dynamic Conditions

This experimental study focuses on the flow field above the landing deck and in the nearfield wake of a simplified canonical model of a surface ship while in static and dynamic conditions. The landing pad region is of interest because launch and recovery helicopters use the region for take-off and landing. Due to the bluff nature of a typical naval ship superstructure, the flow field around the ship produces a wake that poses a challenge for landing air vehicles (helicopters and VTOL aircraft) under certain conditions. A characterization and analysis of the flow field through particle image velocimetry, along with other diagnostics, will be presented for static and dynamic cases. For the latter, the motion of a ship is simulated by a 6-axis Stewart platform. A potential interaction between the ship motion and the wake dynamics at certain wave motion frequencies is expected, which may provide predictive capabilities of wake behavior based on surface measurements.