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BLB-70 |
BLB-65 |
Navatek's bow lifting body (BLB) hull form achieved the greatest combination of efficiency, sea keeping, cost and producibility of any Navatek lifting body. The BLB concept was conceived in 2000 and advanced in 2003 with a CEROS grant (Center of Excellence for Research in Ocean Sciences, funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) to study the benefits of a bow lifting body on a large ship. Model tests in 2004 confirmed predictions of increased efficiency and the BLB’s effectiveness in wave cancellation.
In 2006, Navatek built and tested at sea the BLB-70 bow lifting body technology demonstrator. Official Navy trials were conducted aboard the BLB-70 in 2007. Their subjective assessment stated: “most impressive was the smoothness and stability of the ride…” and “…the active system was highly effective in reducing the amount of severity of impacts and motions.”
In 2008, the BLB-70 was modified to become the BLB-65. Its waterline length was shortened slightly, and Navatek installed its new, dihedral bow lifting body with trailing edge flaps. Features of the BLB 65 include:
- A dihedral bow lifting body. The bow lifting body was optimized for efficiency and moved under the bow to reduce slamming. The lifting body shape itself results in high added mass and viscous motion damping. The BLB provides wave cancellation found on traditional bulbous bows, but is effective across the entire speed rage.
- A deep-vee hull shape with amas. The BLB provides wave cancellation and effectively increases the L/B and entry angle. The amas assist static stability at rest, while at cruise speed the lift provided from the BLB and aft foils lift the amas clear of the water.
- An ARES adaptive ride enhancement system. The ARES system utilizes control flaps on the BLB with incidence-controlled aft foils. This effectively reduces ship motions and improves seakeeping and efficiency. The ARES system itself offers simple, robust incidence control actuation and employs commercial off-the shelf (COTS) sensors.
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