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Advanced Hull Forms for Landing Craft
Navy SBIR 2012.1 - Topic N121-057 NAVSEA - Mr. Dean Putnam - [email protected] Opens: December 12, 2011 - Closes: January 11, 2012 N121-057 TITLE: Advanced Hull Forms for Landing Craft TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Ground/Sea Vehicles ACQUISITION PROGRAM: Cross Platform Systems Development (CPSD) NAVSEA 05T ACAT IV OBJECTIVE: Develop innovative concepts and technologies applicable to the highly constrained hydrodynamic environment of the high capacity beaching landing craft. DESCRIPTION: Displacement hull beaching landing craft have been a staple component of the overall amphibious capability for over sixty years. The high capacity and long range properties remain extremely useful in a wide spectrum of operations, including Noncombatant Evacuation, Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief, and some Irregular Warfare missions. A heavy-lift displacement hull landing craft is inherently forced into a highly restricted design space for hullform geometry and hydrodynamic performance. Length and beam are constrained by the dimensions of amphibious ships� well decks. The heavy cargo load tends to drive the craft towards a deep draft, but beaching capabilities are improved by a shallower draft. This has driven the legacy craft to a high block coefficient barge like hullform that minimizes draft for a given length, breadth, and displacement, but reduces attainable water speed and beach accessibility. Through the use of advanced innovative hydrodynamic technologies and analyses not available since the existing generation of craft was designed, new hydrodynamic concepts for designing an efficient displacement hull beaching landing craft are possible. Current hydrodynamic analysis tools provide the capability to accurately model fluid flows across complex surfaces, which allows for a broader range of innovative and feasible hull geometry designs. Advanced concepts must address the major performance shortfalls of the legacy craft while also incorporating state of the art energy efficiency concepts for reduced Total Ownership Cost (TOC). The primary performance-limiting factors common to displacement hull beaching landing craft are transit speed and beaching ability. Due to the barge-like hull needed to achieve load capacities and support the bow ramp, performance is limited to ~11 knots with beaching gradients limited to ~1:40. This project seeks the development of innovative hull form hydrodynamic concepts for a high cargo capacity landing craft. The proposed concepts should maximize speed, beaching capability (in terms of gradient), and range, while minimizing installed power and maintaining the capability to interface with amphibious ships� well decks. Special attention should be paid to minimizing TOC and meeting applicable environmental regulations. Apart from the interface requirement, no specific geometry or design approach is stipulated. Proposed concepts must scale to sizes capable of delivering at least two main battle tanks in a drive-through configuration (~165 short tons). Simplicity, ruggedness, and a low power-to-weight ratio for a given water speed are highly desirable. PHASE I: Develop hydrodynamic concepts for an innovative hull form capable of exceeding one or more of speed and beaching capability of legacy displacement hull landing craft while maintaining range and well deck compatibility. Some increase in installed power relative to legacy designs is acceptable, but increases to engine weight, acquisition cost of the prime movers, and fuel consumption should be minimized. Concepts should provide validation of design feasibility by means of either computational fluid dynamic (CFD) results or model test data supporting the improvements conferred by the candidate technology and concept level integration of the technology into an overall craft architecture. Provide a Phase II development plan with performance goals and key technical milestones. PHASE II: Based on the results of Phase I and the Phase II development plan, fabricate and instrument a "proof of concept" prototype model to evaluate the benefits of the proposed technology with regard to speed, beaching capability, range, maintenance and energy costs, and performance goals defined in Phase I. Provide a plan for Phase III development, installation, testing, and validation of an initial conceptual design for transition to Navy use. PHASE III: Using results from Phase II and the Phase III plan, build a full scale prototype with other craft features required for operational use for open water testing and demonstrate the increased performance of the hydrodynamic concept. Correct any shortcomings identified during the craft T&E. Support the Navy in certifying the craft for Navy use. Develop operational and repair training instructions. Generate full-scale manufacturing, fleet introduction, and fielding and training as required. PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: A limited number of landing craft hulls are in civilian service as ferries, research craft, and in other roles. The overall technology of shallow water craft is applicable to these fields as well as to inland navigation. REFERENCES: 2) MCRP 3-31B Amphibious Ships and Landing Craft Data Book. United States Marine Corps 2001. http://www.marines.mil/news/publications/documents/MCRP%203-31B%20Amphibious%20Ships%20and%20Landing%20Craft%20Data%20Book.pdf 3) Friedman, Norman J. U.S. Amphibious Ships and Craft: An Illustrated Design History. Naval Institute Press, 2002. KEYWORDS: Landing Craft, Ship-to-Shore Movement, Amphibious Warfare, Logistics, Hydrodynamics, Energy Efficiency
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