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Bulbous bows have been found to be most effective under the following conditions:

i‘ when used on hulls with waterline lengths of more than about 15 m (50 ft)
i‘ when used on long, narrow hulls
i‘ when used at speeds close to the vessel's maximum speed

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In a conventionally shaped bow, a bow wave forms immediately before the bow. When a
bulb is placed below the water ahead of this wave, water is forced to flow up over the bulb. If
the trough formed by water flowing off the bulb coincides with the bow wave, the two
partially cancel out and reduce the vessel's wake. While inducing another wave stream saps
energy from the ship, canceling out the second wave stream at the bow changes the pressure
distribution along the hull, thereby reducing wave resistance. The effect that pressure
distribution has on a surface is known as the form effect.

Some explanations note that water flowing over the bulb depresses the ship's bow and keeps
it trimmed better. Since many of the bulbous bows are symmetrical or even angled upwards
which would tend to raise the bow further, the improved trim is likely a by-product of the
reduced wave action as the vessel approaches hull speed, rather than direct action of
waterflow over the bulb.

A sharp bow on a conventional hull form would produce waves and low drag like a bulbous
bow, but waves coming from the side would strike it harder. Also, in heavy seas, water
flowing around the bulb dampens pitching movements like a squiggle keel. The blunt bulbous
bow also produces higher pressure in a large region in front, making the bow wave start
earlier.


  
The bulbous bow concept is credited to David W. Taylor, a naval architect who served as
Chief Constructor of the Navy [USA] during the First World War. The concept was first
introduced in his design of the USS u
 , which entered service in 1910. The bow
design did not initially enjoy wide acceptance. This all changed in the 1920s, with Germany's
launching the    and the  
. They were referred to as Germany's North Atlantic
grey hounds, two large commercial ocean liners that competed for the trans-Atlantic
passenger trade. Both ships won the coveted Blue Riband, the    in 1929 with a
crossing speed of 27.9 knots (51.7 km/h), and the Europa exceeding her in 1930 with a
crossing speed of 27.91 knots.
ŒÔ

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The design mechanism chosen here is by modifying the hull form by adding a " "  "
.
The benefits of " "  "
are already well known. Trawlers run at a high value of Fn
(0.3-0.37) and will have large wave making resistance. Therefore it is favourable to use a
" "  "
. According to Doust (1961), a good conventional design can reduce 10 to15
percent wave making resistance and increase 4 to 5 percent propulsive efficiency. (Comstock.
J.P 1967) Reduction of delivered power also occur as much as 20 percent in a smooth water.

#

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Generally, the bulb looks like a section of a large diameter pipe with a domed end sticking
out of the "
of the vessel, underwater. Although available in many shapes and sizes such
side as bulbs, bilge bulbs and even stern bulbs but the most

28 consistent results have been achieved with "
bulbs. Today, to see a large ship without a
" "  "
is a rare sight indeed. The results have been proven over countless thousands of
deep ocean miles in all kinds of weather by all kinds of vessels. With model testing and
advanced knowledge of hydrodynamics, the " "  "
was formulated typically giving a
5 percent reduction in fuel consumption over a narrow range of speed and draft. 5.3 Function
of a " "  "
The functioning of " "  "
is primarily important to the vessel when
moving forward. Hydrodynamically, the interference of the primary and secondary wave
causes an overall reduction in drag, which is beneficial to the vessels resistance
characteristics. When the water flows over the top of the bulb, it could reduce the pressure
above it, thereby reducing the amplitude of the "
-wave.

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The length of bulb is determined by the stem profile, as further forward the bulb extends
more advantage will it have. Nevertheless, it has been generally kept shorter than the "

overhang because of anchoring problem. The vertical placement is calculated so that the bulb
is just below the surface where it will create a wave in front of the ship interfering with the
natural wave of the vessel, creating a wave hollow where the crest should be. In this way, the
vessel will run flatter and the overall wave height will be reduced. The vessel can be moved
through the water with less waves and overall disturbance to the surface and as a result,
energy will be transmitted to the water to create those waves and vessels can reach the
designed speed with less horsepower.

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The benefit of a modern day " "  "
is the reduction of fuel consumption by 12 to 15
percent and will give a better range and higher speed. At a higher speed wave making
resistance accounts for the greater part of the drag, and the slower you go proportionally,
more of the resistance is taken up by wetted surface drag. At a low speed (around 6 knots and
lower), the bulb will cause an increase in drag because of its greater wetted surface area.
Luckily, at that low speed, the added power consumption is negligible and generally, little
time is spent in this speed range. In addition, there will be increased sea keeping ability due
to dampening of the pitching motion. When charging into head seas there is a chance of
slamming the bulb on the troughs, but this is limited to a very narrow range of wave train and
heading.



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It is essential to determine the range of benefit in using " "  "
when the vessel travels.
Establishment of hydrostatic data is important to obtain an early thought that " "  "

can reduce the resistance. The range of Froude number is used to determine the variety of
speed in order to get the minimum requirement of advantageous of bulb. From Watson &
Gilfillan¶s chart (APPENDIX F), the range of 0.55 is the lowest value that can be obtained by
a vessel to get the advantage of " "  "
. The minimum condition of speed of a trawler
to travel in order to reduce the wave making resistance is shown below. From the calculation,
a minimum

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Basic procedures for choosing the " "  "
are given by Sounders, H.E. 1957 as
follows:1. The most important feature of this pattern was a wave trough just aft of the sphere,
which suggested the possibility of partly canceling the "
wave of the hull by locating a
sphere below the surface in the neighborhood of the stem. 2. Useful range of speed of bulb is
generally from about Fn = 0.24 ± 0.57. (Comstock. J.P 1967) 3. The best position for the bulb
is with its center at the "
and its nose projecting forward of the hull. 4. The bulb should
extend as low as possible, and should be as short as longitudinal and as wide laterally as
possible, consonant with fairness in the lines of the hull.

31

5. The top of the bulb should not approach too nearly at the water surface. 6. It is significant
that the most substantial improvement we found in the ballast condition is when the bulb is
near the surface. The draft forward appears to be critical and care should be taken in choosing
the ballast operating operation. 7. Cost to build and development of the bulb. 8. The bulb
must not be treated nearly as an addition or appendage, but the whole fore body should be
redesigned as fine load waterline being used with half-angles of entrance of 5 to 10 deg less
than those of a normal trawler, and with the LCB as far aft as possible. 9. The bulb area
should not exceed 5 % in order to avoid risk of slamming damage. 10. Unless the lines
(forward) are extremely hollow the best position of the bulb is with its (longitudinal) center at
the "
, that is, with its nose projecting forward of the hull. 11. The bulb should extend as
low as possible consistent with the fairness of the lines of the hull. 12. The bulb should be as
short longitudinally and as wide laterally as possible, again having regard to the fairness of
the line. 13. When considering a bulb "
for a new design it is first necessary to determine
whether the speed range is appropriate to its use.

.

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32 A methodology of " "  "
design used is Kracht " "  "
design developed for
a low-speed full form ship. There are 3 three types of classification according to the shape of
the bulb¶s cross section at the forward perpendicular. These 3 types are ǻ, O and ƒ .
(Appendix A). The chosen bulb of a model trawler is ƒ type because its¶ advantageous of sea
keeping properties. The determination of " "  "
parameter is important.

In this initial design, the height of the bulb must be decided first. This is to ensure that the
bulbs are immersed completely in the water surface. After the height, the other characteristic
such as linear and non-linear parameter is established. (Appendix B) The value of length, C
LPR and breadth parameter C BB are obtained by assuming the reference value. (Kracht,
A.M. 1978) The specific value for length, C LPR and breadth parameter C BB are given
below:

Œ21--#Œ$$1-#-+

From this reference value, the length and the breadth can be found out. Other parameters can
be obtained after the modeling of bulb is undertaken. C LPR = LP R LPP

21Œ232

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The basic particular of the bulb is determined from the initial calculation, and then the
modeling of the bulb is carried out.

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Decide the Forward Perpendicular (FP) in order to attach the bulb to the bare hull. This
procedure is for the upper part to join the FP point. The curves are stopped upon reaching ZB
(1.69 m) at the height above the baseline.

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Taken the distance y(x) below the curve at a longitudinal distance, x forward perpendicular
can be calculated using to the following formula: Y(x) = [HB² - x²(HB/LPR) ²]0.5

,

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,

2%/  &)%&0" %)" "! 

This layout is according to the breadth of the bulb after the calculation. The extension of the
bulb must fair smoothly to the hull form.

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After finishing step 3 above, the curve can be plotted to construct a surface of the bulb
according to the initial measurement.

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38 Table 5.1: Bulb particulars (Legend refer to Appendix B) NO 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Particular HB BB BMS LPR LPP TFP ZB ABT AMS ABL VPR VWL Value 1.48 m 1.14 m
5.60 m 1.19 m 23.9 m 2.43 m 1.69 m 1.12 m² 8.87 m² 1.17 m² 0.9151 m³ 132 m³

Table 5.2: Linear and Non-linear Parameter of bulb (Legend refer to Appendix B) No
Parameter 1 2 3 CBB CLPR CZB Linear 0.2036 0.0498 0.6966 Particular Parameter CABT
CABL CVPR Non-Linear 0.133 0.1319 0.0069

-

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The offset tables for this bulb are from forward perpendicular of the ship. Spacing station that
is used for this offset is 0.15 m. For height above baseline table,
39 two data are put forward. First data is for below reference waterline and the second data is
for above reference waterline of six. (Refer to offset and lines plan drawing)

+-

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Half-Breadth (m) Station 0 AP 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0.0789 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.2244 0.1905 0.1413

0.0632 0 0 0 0 2 0.3463 0.3124 0.2708 0.2174 0.1477 0 0 0 3 0.4638 0.4363 0.3994 0.3504
0.2859 0.2008 0.0862 0 Waterline 4 0.5381 0.5234 0.4994 0.4636 0.4125 0.3407 0.2383
0.079 5 0.5702 0.5608 0.5368 0.5132 0.4721 0.4169 0.3427 0.2206 6 0.563 0.5544 0.5422
0.5092 0.4701 0.4179 0.3497 0.2489 7 0.4946 0.4762 0.4509 0.4171 0.3725 0.314 0.2371
0.1338 8 0.3453 0.2939 0.2498 0.2124 0.1711 0.1172 0 0 9 0.1417 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

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Height above baseline (Ref = WL 6) Station Centerline AP 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0.7667/2.2461

0.8102/2.1141 0.8635/2.0867 0.9279/2.0715 1.0050/2.0553 1.0961/2.0296 1.2062/1.9876
1.3522/1.9172 1 0.8472/2.1455 0.8914/2.0799 0.9446/2.0557 1.0097/2.0135 1.0880/2.0135
1.1777/1.9833 1.2970/1.9246 1.4550/1.8330 Buttock line 2 1.0151/2.0474 1.0571/2.0036
1.1048/1.9846 1.1617/1.9478 1.2410/1.9196 1.3287/1.8800 1.4412/1.8054 0 3 1.1847/1.9291
1.2240/1.8960 1.2704/1.8662 1.3310/1.8401 1.4101/1.7886 1.5713 0 0 4 1.4777/1.6937
1.5462 0 0 0 0 0 0

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