Mathematical ship surface 1

Abstract

For practical application, the problem of mathematical ship surface has been subdivided into two portions:

1. To approximate a given hull form mathematically by a surface equation; and

2. to modify a ship surface equation to obtain the desired changes in hull characteristics from one design to another.

For the case of a single-screw, flat-bottom, merchant ship hull form, a procedure of obtaining a surface equation to fair and to interpolate a given table of offsets has been developed. This equation will give not only the waterlines and stations but also the end profile. The numerical computation of such a procedure has been programmed into a high-speed electronic computer. From a given table of offsets, any number of waterlines and stations may be computed. The second portion of this work, that is, the use of the surface equation for design purpose, will be dealt with in the future. The whole work will then be extended to cover other types of ship hull forms.