The Prediction, Measurement, and Analysis of Wake Wash from Marine Vessels

In the marine environment, wake wash from passing vessels can be detrimental to a shoreline environment, damage shoreline property and disturb or damage other marine operations. Slowdowns to prevent such impact can hamper or curtail high-speed vessel operations that depend on speed for successful service. To prevent this failure, low-wash vessel designs are needed and success must be assured before significant dollar investments are made. This paper describes: establishment of "no harm" wash criteria, prediction of wash using computational fluid dynamics for various speeds of high-speed aluminum catamarans, techniques of measurement and analysis of the wash from actual vessels, and agreement between wash predictions and wash measurements. This paper documents a successful program which Washington State Ferries used to procure new, high-speed environmentally friendly passenger ferries for operation on Puget Sound.