118 | MARITECH NEWS | 2011

| 119
The efficacy of air-bubble
lubrication for decreasing
friction resistance
1. introDuCtion
For a number of years, air lubrication
has beenunder investigationat MARIN
as a means of reducing the frictional
resistance of ships. Three general
approaches are identified
Injection of air bubbles along
the hull
Air films under the hull
Air cavities in the bottom of
the hull
Several projects were started up
in the Netherlands in 1999. The PELS
project has studied the capabilities on
theoretical and numerical grounds
and by extensive model tests (Thill
et al., 2005). The positive conclusion
spurred two follow-up projects: PELS
2, focusing on air cavity ships and
the Eu-funded SMOOTH project,
focusing on air-bubbles and air-film
lubrication. Both projects are focused
on inland ships and coastal ships and
both projects include a full-scale
test with a demonstrator ship. This
paper presents the results of model
scale and full scale tests within the
SMOOTH project. The effect of air
lubrication by bubble injection on
resistance and propulsion, seakeeping
andmaneuverability usingbothmodel
scale and full scale experiments is
discussed.
2. baCKgrounD
The frictional resistance is the
dominant resistance component for
low-Froude-number ships. Pressure
drag (i.e., form resistance) and wave
resistance are frequently optimized
using Computational Fluid Dynamics
(CFD) but the total wetted surface
remains a given. Reducing this
frictional resistance by air lubrication
is attractive. The power needed to
compress air and inject it under
the vessel should be less than the
alleged power reduction due to the
air lubrication.
For displacement ships, any
reduction of the local skin friction
leads to decreases of the resistance
and commensurately fuel savings. As
the Froude number increases and the
wave resistance becomes progressively
larger, the effect of air lubrication
on the total resistance expectedly
decreases. The injection of air requires
constant pumping power and if the
ship sails too slowly it represents
a significant part of the propulsive
power. Therefore air injection is
expected to be suited for moderately
fast ships with a target speed range
of Froude numbers between 0.05
and 0.15.
This paper focuses on air-bubble
lubrication only. If bubble lubrication
is effective, it requires only a small
change to the hull compared to an
air-cavity ship.
Laboratory results of micro-bubble
injection by Madavan et al. (1983)
showed reductions of the frictional
drag up to 80%. These micro-bubbles
are very difficult to create on a ship
scale. As the bubble increases in size,
so does its tendency to deform in
the shear and turbulent fluctuations
of the flow and it is no longer a
spherical micro-bubble. Bubbles are
on a millimeter scale for current ship
applications; the term micro-bubble
is no longer applicable. As the term
micro-bubble is used ambiguously,
a distinction between (mini-)bubble
dragreductionandmicro-bubble drag
reduction is required.
At very low speeds, around 1 m/s,
bubbles with a diameter of only a
few Kolmogorov length scales of the
flow can generate a 10% decrease in
resistance at only 1 volume percent
of air in the boundary layer (Park &
Sung, 2005). At more realistic flow
speeds of 5 to 15 m/s, this viscous
length scale drops rapidly, enforcing
a small bubble that is difficult to
produce inlarge quantities. Moriguchi
& Kato (2002) used bubbles between
0.5 and 2.5 mm and reported up
to a 40% decrease in resistance for
air contents over 10%. Shen et al.
(2005), usingsmaller bubbles between
0.03 and 0.5 mm, found a 20% drag
reduction at an air content of 20%.
No appreciable influence of bubble
size was found here, but Kawamura
(2004), using bubbles from 0.3 to 1.3
mm scale, found that larger bubbles
persisted downstream longer and
were more effective at reducing the
resistance. As larger bubbles showed
less dispersion this may have been an
effect of concentrationonly (Harleman
et al., 2009).
The mechanisms by which mini-
bubbles reduce friction are as yet
unclear. Mini-bubbles affect the
density and viscosity of the flow;
viscosity actually increases for small
amounts of air, but at high Reynolds
number the turbulent stress is more
important than viscous stress. A
decrease of the density outside
the viscous sublayer may be more
important. Kitagawa et al. (2005)
found that bubbles deformed with
a favorable orientation with respect
to the flow, reducing turbulent stress
as the flow field around the bubble
is more isotropic, although other
mechanisms have been proposed,
such as compression (Lo et al., 2006)
or bubble splitting (Meng & uhlman,
1998).
Watanabe &Shirose (1998) tested
a 40 m plate at 7 m/s to test the
persistence of air lubrication. Skin
friction sensors indicated that the
skin friction reduction diminished
from the injection point onward;
after 20 m, the effect of lubrication
was nearly gone. Sanders et al.
(2006) performed experiments with
a large flat plate of 13 m length
for speeds of up to 18 m/s. This
experiment allowed for tests with
bubbles ranging from 0.1 to 1.0
mm at Reynolds numbers that
were previously not tested. The
experiments showed that the bubbles
were pushed out of the boundary
layer a few meters behind the air
injectors, against the direction of
buoyancy. An near bubble-free liquid
layer was formed near the wall and
the effect of air lubrication almost
vanished. It is hypothesized that the
lift force experienced by a bubble
in the boundary layer is more than
sufficient to overcome the buoyancy
of the bubble. The experiments by
Watanabe and Sanders indicate
that air lubrication will not persist
over long length or time scales. This
indicates that for model testing with
bubble injection a strong Reynolds-
scale effect is present and that tests
using full-scale ships will not yield
the expected resistance reductions
as found during model tests.
For example, the full-scale
demonstrator vessel Seiun Maru
showed a 2% decrease at only a
limited speed range, notwithstanding
resistance decreases measured at
model scale (reported in Kodama et
al. 2002), with an increase in required
power over most of its speed range.
The Filia Ariea has been fitted with
so-called Wing-Air Induction Devices,
i.e. a slot in the hull fitted with a small
protrudingwingover the slot inducing
a natural low-pressure region; tests
with the Filia Ariea fitted with these
air injection devices did not show a
change in shaft power after the air
supply was switched on (Belkoned,
2008).
Although air lubrication by mini-
bubbles can show a decrease of
frictional resistance for ships, the
results are not always convincing.
In order to gain more experience
with air lubrication, a consortium of
industrial companies and research
institutes initiated the Eu-funded
abstraCt
Reducing the frictional resistance by air
injection below the ship in combination
with special coatings is an active area
of research; anecdotally, performance
gains are usually large. The paper gives
an overview of some model scale and full
scale measurements results of ships with
one type of air lubricationair bubble
lubricationperformed by MARIN. The
experiments were performed for the
EU-SMOOTH project. The first series of
experiments focused on an inland shipping
vessel that was tested both on model
scale and on full scale, with and without
air lubrication. A second series of tests
consisted of maneuvering and seakeeping
tests with a model painted with different
coatings and with and without air
lubrication. No appreciable effects of air
bubble lubrication were found during the
resistance and propulsion tests at either
model or full scale and no significant
effects of air bubble lubrication on
maneuvering and seakeeping model tests
could be determined.
FIGURE 1 Top and side viewof the Till Deymann. The accented areas are the location for air injection, consisting of one array
of strips in the bottomplating and one area at the downstreamend of the forward tunnel thruster opening in the bow. The
bottomright photograph shows this area prior to fitting the porous medium. The locations of the forward and aft azimuthing
thrusters are indicated.

120 | MARITECH NEWS | 2011

| 121
project SMOOTH. The project focuses
on air lubrication and its effects on
resistance, propulsion, maneuvering,
and sea keeping of ships. This paper
presents the results of the resistance
and propulsion tests on model
scale and full scale, and the results
of maneuvering and seakeeping at
model scale.
3. resistanCe
anD ProPuLsion oF
tHe tiLL DeYMann
The test vessel is the 109.8 m inland-
shipping vessel Till Deymann, see
Figure 1. The vessel has a semi-
twin-hull bow with two openings
in the sides fitted with two 1050
mm azimuthing thrusters rotated 15
degrees outboard and two nozzled
azimuthing 1300 mm thrusters are
fitted aft. The air is injected at the
far wall of the recesses in the bow
and a strip in the bottom through a
porous mediumwith a 20 mpore size.
The four thrusters were all powered
and instrumented during the tests.
The aft thrusters were fitted on a
6-DOF measurement frame with
both propeller thrust and torque
measured in the propeller hub, while
the forward thrusters were rigidly
mounted and only propeller torque
was measured.
From full-scale trials was known
that each thruster received equal
power, but the forwardthrusters could
not deliver that power over the entire
speed range without overloading. The
forward thrusters were set to 60% of
the power of the aft thrusters during
all tests.
3.1 MoDeL sCaLe resuLts
An 11.8 m model of the Till Deymann
at a scale ratio of 1:9.286 has been
constructed. Note that even for
such a large model, the propeller
diameters were small, making the
test less suitable for extrapolation to
full scale. The model was well suited
for comparative tests between
fully-wetted and air-lubricated
conditions.
The porous medium is not scaled
and has a 20 m pore size as on the
real ship. In order to properly scale the
effect of the atmospheric pressure,
the model was tested in the MARIN
depressurized towing tank. Nitrogen
instead of air was injected from a
pressurized gas canister where the
nitrogen was allowed to expand
and was subsequently heated before
being injected. The gas-volume flow
was measured and controlled by
Bronkhorst EL_FLOW mass-flow
controllers calibrated for nitrogen
gas. The model was set at the correct
draught and trimwith chambers filled
with nitrogen gas.
The model was tested at a ship
speed range from 5 to 10 kts with
the air-volume flow rate set at 0
(reference), 3, and 6 L/min. Figure
2 shows the results of the bare-hull
resistance test. A 1% increase of the
resistance was measured (although
this falls well within the measurement
accuracy) while most model tests
show decreases. The amount of air
may have been insufficient to have
any effect while the air injection may
disturb the boundary layer too much.
It was observed that the air from the
openings for the forward thrusters
immediately rose to the surface.
The exact cause of the resistance
increase is unclear and further tests
are planned with an increase in the
air volume flow rate.
3.2 FuLL sCaLe resuLts
The full-scale trials with the Till
Deymann were performed with the
same draught as for the model tests.
These tests were performed in the
Netherlands, and in both fresh and
salt water as the coalescent behavior
of bubbles is known to depend on
salinity. The ship was fitted with an
anemometer (horizontal plane), a
six-DOF accelerometer, shaft torque
and rpm sensors (strain gauge
and optical sensor respectively),
a boroscope placed aft of the air
injection array and fitted with
an image intensifier capable of a
frame rate of 200 Hz, and two GPS
antennae to determine the course
with 0.5 accuracy.
The tests consisted of sailing in
10-minute intervals in each direction
(track length permitting) and taking
the average of six of these runs
per measured point. Several 11
kW compressors were used for air
injection. The weather conditions
were very good with wind condition
mostly at Bft 1 and occasionally up
to Bft 3. The repeatability of the
testswithin 2%is considered
to be high. Although the measured
trend is constant and consistent,
the effect of air lubrication is not
significant. The power required for
air injection was measured. It can be
concluded that for the current setup
the power required for air injection
exceeds the power reduction by air
lubrication. From the model tests it
was hypothesized that the wake of
the forward thrusters aimed partially
at the rear wall of the hull openings
may benefitat least locallyfrom
air lubrication. The full scale trials
did not show any effect when the
air lubrication at that location was
activated.
4. seaKeePing
anD ManeuVering
at MoDeL sCaLe
The influence of air lubrication and
coating type on seakeeping and
maneuvering characteristics was
investigated using two wooden
models of a tanker. Different coatings
were applied to the bottom of the
model by means of interchangeable
pre-coated plates. The first model was
previously segmented and had the
plates bolted to the model, hence the
later need for a second model where
the plates were mounted flush with
the bottomusingrecesses. The models
were instrumented with electrical
drives, thrusters, and an air supply
system. Three types of plates were
used: uncoated, coatedwithIntersleek
900, and coated with an experimental
highly-hydrophobic coating designed
by AkzoNobel.
The following model data were
collected:
1. Position, rotation, accelerations
2. Actual mass flow in air supply
system
3. Rotation rate, torque and thrust
of propellers
4. Steering angle of thrusters
5. undisturbed wave height (clear
of the model)
As with the resistance and
propulsion tests, nitrogen gas was
used to produce the bubbles and the
same mass flowcontrollers were used
to measure and control the mass flow
rate through small-pore sintered steel
inserts and then through 1 mm holes
in the steel plate, resulting in large
bubbles (0.52 mm). Air injection
points are placed from the bow and
every 20%of the model length, except
at 100%, numbered 1 to 5. The air
injection point at the bow is only a
third of the beam of the ship. The
following tests were performed:
1. Powering runs to determine
propeller rate versus speed
2. Zig-zag tests
3. Combined Turning-Circle/Pull-
Out
4. Roll-decay tests
5. Seakeeping runs in irregular
bow-quartering and stern-quartering
seas
underwater video observation
was used to verify the performance
of the air layer. Experimentation with
the volume flow rate of nitrogen
was performed and the proper flow
amount was determined based on the
general appearance of the bubbles.
The performance was highly sensitive
to the exact fitting of the plates;
even minor alignment problems
of the plates caused nitrogen not
distribute evenly and to collect in
certain locations.. A constant flow
of bubbles along the bottom of the
plates was observed. Arepresentative
view is given in Figure 4.
4.1 tested configurations
The tested configurations and
associated names are indicated in
Table 1.
4.2 Maneuvering behavior
Zig-zag tests and combined turning
circle/pull-out tests showed small
differences inthe results. Most of these
differences were erratic andfall within
theconfidenceinterval of maneuvering
tests. All observed differences have
little or noinfluence onshipoperation.
The difference between coatings
was observed to be larger than the
difference between fully-wetted and
air lubrication conditions.
4.3 influence of air
configuration
The influence of air lubrication was
limited to the following aspects:
1. In the turning circle test, the
stable turning diameter increased by
approximately 5% with an increasing
air flow rate (Figure 5, top).
2. In the turning circle test, the
pivot point moved 5% forward from
midships with an increasing air flow
rate (Figure 5, center).
3. In the turning circle test, the
maintained speed increased by about
5% with an increasing air flow rate
(Figure 5, bottom).
4.4 influence of coating type
As the different coatings were
applied to interchangeable plates, the
measured changes were influenced by
small geometric differences between
the plates (size, paint thickness,
accuracy of fitting them to the
model, etc.). Only minor differences
between plates were measured and as
a difference of a few percent can be
expected fromone set of plates to the
next, no significant influence on the
maneuvering performance could be
attributed to the coating type itself.
Additionally, no consistent trends
FIGURE 2 Measured resistance of the model. A 1%increase is measured (except
for one outlier).
FIGURE 3 Measured shaft power onboard the Till Deymann with and without air
lubrication both for salt water and fresh water conditions.
FIGURE 4 Air bubbles under ship model

122 | MARITECH NEWS | 2011

| 123
could be observed.
5. seaKeePing
beHaVior
The model was tested in the irregular
wave conditions in bow and stern
quatering wavesi.e. 315 and 135
headingwith a signigficant wave
height of 1.5 m and wave peak
period of 9 s for all configurations as
presented in Table 1.
These conditions were repeated
from the PELS project and are
considered representative for what
aninlandshipcanencounter. It should
be noted that these conditions do
not excite the ship in its natural
frequencies of motion and therefore
the measured motions are small.
Measurements witha small magnitude
are more susceptible to disturbances
and therefore reduce the accuracy
of these results. The results show
the root mean square (RMS) of the
motion divided by the RMS of the
undisturbed wave height. Roll and
pitch are considered to be the most
relevant ship motions.
5.1 influence of
air configuration
and coating type
Figure 6 shows the obtained
results for roll and pitch in bow-
and stern quartering seas. Note
thatexcept for the extra large
roll in bow-quartering waves for
uNCOATED FuLL AIR A, following
from a single measurementall
the measurements show little
variation between fully-wetted
and air-lubricated conditions.
When considering the accuracy
level in the tests one must conclude
that the differences between these
results of each air configuration fall
within the confidence interval of
these tests for all coating types. Also,
no consistent trends can be seen.
Therefore, it is concluded that no
influence of air lubricationandcoating
type on seakeeping performance
could be found.
ConCLusions
Experiments have been performed
withships withandwithout air-bubble
injection at model scale and full scale.
The results of model scale experiments
showed a small increase in resistance
and a small increase in propulsion
efficiency, both around 1-2%. A trial
with the ship with air lubrication
at full scale showedat besta
2% reduction in required propulsive
power with air lubrication (roughly
2.6%). The net power reduction was
consistently measured at 0.6%, i.e.,
an increase, for both fresh water and
salt water conditions. The behavior of
the bubbles in the boundary layer of
the full-scale ship (insofar they could
be seen) showed that bubbles did not
attach to the hull.
Maneuveringandseakeepingtests
showedvery small differences between
air-lubricated and fully-wetted hulls
for maneuvering and no differences
for seakeeping. Therefore, any vessel
with air bubble lubrication does
90% 92% 94% 96% 98% 100% 102% 104%
UNCOATED
INTERSLEEK 900
HYDROPHOBIC
DSTC [-]
TurningDiameter
(2nd model; relative to UNCOATEDNO AIR)
80% 85% 90% 95% 100% 105%
UNCOATED
INTERSLEEK 900
HYDROPHOBIC
Non-dimpivot point [-]
Non- dimensional pivot point
(2nd model; relative to UNCOATEDNO AIR)
75% 80% 85% 90% 95% 100% 105%
UNCOATED
INTERSLEEK 900
HYDROPHOBIC
Vstc/V0 [-]
Maintained speed fraction
(2nd model; relative to UNCOATEDNO AIR)
STERN MAX AIR MAX AIR FULL AIR B NO AIR
0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 1.20 1.40 1.60
UNCOATED (1st model)
INTERSLEEK 900 (1st model)
UNCOATED (2nd model)
HYDROPHOBIC (2nd model)
rms/rms [deg/m]
Roll; bow quarteringseas
0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 1.20 1.40 1.60
UNCOATED (1st model)
INTERSLEEK 900 (1st model)
UNCOATED (2nd model)
HYDROPHOBIC (2nd model)
rms/rms [deg/m]
Pitch; bow quarteringseas
0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50 4.00
UNCOATED (1st model)
INTERSLEEK 900 (1st model)
UNCOATED (2nd model)
HYDROPHOBIC (2nd model)
rms/rms [deg/m]
Roll; stern quarteringseas
0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50 0.60 0.70 0.80 0.90
UNCOATED (1st model)
INTERSLEEK 900 (1st model)
UNCOATED (2nd model)
HYDROPHOBIC (2nd model)
rms/rms [deg/m]
Pitch; stern quarteringseas
STERN MAX AIR FULL AIR B FULL AIR A NO AIR
not need a specially-trained crew to
handle the ship.
In conclusion, no appreciable
effect was found of the injection of
air bubbles on resistance, propulsion,
and maneuvering characteristics of
a ship. Barring unforeseen effects of
special coatings and other surface
treatments, an ad hoc application
of bubble injection for ship hulls is
not expected to yield any significant
results. It should be noted that this
conclusion does not apply to air
lubrication by either air films or air-
cavity ships.
6.
aCKnowLeDgeMents
SMOOTH is supported with funding
from the European Commissions
Sixth Framework Programme with
participation of MARIN, AkzoNobel,
Bureau Veritas, Damen Shipyards,
Istanbul Technical university, Atlas
Copco Ketting Marine Centre, New
Logistics, SSPA, DST, Thyssen Krupp
Veerhaven, & Imtech.
7. reFerenCes
Belkoned Marine Service b.v.,
Report No 973-A/08, 2008
FuKADA, K., TOKuNAGA, J.,
NOBuNAGA, T., NAKATANI, T. and
ISAWAKI, T., Frictional dragreduction
withair lubricant over a super-repellent
surface, J. of Marine Sc. And Techn.,
5 (2000): 123-130
HARLEMAN, M. , DELFOS,
R., WESTERWEEL, J., TERWISGA,
T. VAN, Characterizing 2-phase
boundary layer flow, Wall turbulence
conference, Lille, France, 2009
LO, T. S. , L VOV, V. S. and
PROCACCIA, I., Drag reduction by
compressible bubbles, Phys. Rev., 72
(2006): 036408
KATO, H., Microbubbles as
a skin friction reduction device,
4th symposium on smart control of
turbulence, Tokyo, 2003
KAWAMuRA, T., FuJIWARA,
A., TAKAHASHI, T., KATO, H., and
KODAMA, Y., The effects of bubble
size on the bubble dispersion and the
skin friction reduction, 5th Symp.
Smart Control of Turbulence, 2004
KITAGAWA, A., HISHIDA, A.
and KODAMA,Y., Flow structure of
microbubble-laden turbulent channel
flowmeasured by PIVcombined with
the shadow image technique, Exp.
Fluids, 38 (2005): 466-475
KODAMA, Y., KAKuGAWA, A.,
TAKAHASHI, T., NAGAYA, S., and
SuGIYAMA, K., Microbubbles:
drag reduction mechanism and
applicability to ships, 24th Symp.
Naval Hydrodynamics, 2002
MADAVAN, N.K., DEuTSCH, S., and
MERKLE, C.L., Reductionof turbulent
skin friction by microbubbles, Phys.
Fluids, 27 (1983): 356-363
MENG, J.C. and uLHMAN, J.S.,
Microbubble formation and splitting
in a turbulent boundary layer for
turbulence reduction, Intl. Symp. on
seawater drag reduction, Newport,
RI, uSA, ONR, Arlington, VA, 1998:
341-355
MORIGuCHI, Y. and KATO, H.,
Influence of microbubble diameter
anddistributiononfrictional resistance
reduction, J. Mar. Sci. Technol., 7
(2002): 79-85.
PARK, Y. S. and SuNG, J. H.,
Influence of local ultrasonic forcing
on a turbulent boundary layer. Exp.
Fluids, 39 (2005) 966976.
SANDERS, W. C., WINKEL, E. S.,
DOWLING, D. R., PERLIN, M. and
CECCIO, S. L., Bubble friction drag
reduction in a high-Reynolds-number
flat-plate turbulent boundary layer.
J. Fluid Mech., 552 (2006): 353-380.
THILL, C., TOXOPEuS, S, and
WALREE,VAN, F., Project Energy
Saving air-Lubricated Ships (PELS),
2nd Int. Symp. Seawater Drag
Reduction, Busan, Korea, 2005
WATANABE, O. and Y. SHIROSE.
Measurements of drag reduction
by microbubbles using very long ship
models, J. Soc. Naval Architects Japan,
183 (1998): 53-6
FIGURE 5 Turning diameter, Pivot point, and maintained speed fraction in a turning
circle test, maneuvering tests.
FIGURE 6 Roll and pitch in both bowquartering and stern quartering seas,
seakeeping tests.
M
o
d
e
l
Flow [/min]
Air config per location Coating
1 2 3 4 5
1

Air A

Air A

Intersleek 900
Intersleek 900
2

Air B

Air B
Max Air
Stern Max

3
_
3
3
0

3
_
3
6
0

3
_
3
15
0

3
_
3
15
15

3
_
3
15
15

Intersleek 900
Intersleek 900
Hydrophobic
Hydrophobic
Hydrophobic
Hydrophobic
TABLE 1 Tested air configurations