River towboat tunnel stern

Abstract

Growth in inland waterway barge transport has resulted in a steady increase in towboat propulsive power. Use of ducted propellers, multiple screw installations and tunnel sterns has enabled this power increase. This paper concerns the trends in comtemporary, high-powered towboat tunnel stern design. Tunnel stern designs from over 60 towboats are used to develop empirical formulas characterizing the stern tunnel design. Tunnel flow angles ${\mathrm{\Theta }}_1$ and ${\mathrm{\Theta }}_2$ are then introduced for use in avoiding vibration problems from poor tunnel flow conditions.