Aft Lifting Body Ships - Overview


CAT-40 with ALB/IPP
Monohull with ALB/IPP

Navatek has demonstrated that an aft lifting body (ALB) can significantly enhance motion control across a wide speed range, and is applicable to vessels ranging from small craft to large ships. ALBs can be used on conventional monohulls or multi-hulls as well as advanced hull forms such as Navatek's ETM SLED ®. Installed on small craft, an ALB can reduce vertical accelerations by 50 percent and slamming to an even greater extent.

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  Because the ALB adds damping to the boat, it noticeably reduces zero speed motions in waves. Installed on monohull small craft, roll motions are reduced by a factor of three.  Navatek's ARES adaptive ride enhancement system can be fitted for active control of the ALB. The aft location of the lifting body makes it self-stabilizing. In the event of a control system failure, the ALB can be locked and operated in a fixed position, and still deliver reduced vessel motions. Navatek has also experimented with integrating propulsion into the aft lifting body (ALB). The result is an ALB with an integrated propulsion pod (ALB/IPP), applicable to small and large boats.