Abstract
Among the techniques of reducing the drag to increase the speed of underwater moving bodies, we studied on the drag reduction method by gas injection. Researches on gas injection method have been paid much attention to reduce the drag of vessels or pipe inner walls. In this study, we used a sintered metal mesh that can uniformly distribute fine bubbles by gas injection method, and applied it to a cylindrical underwater moving body. Using the KRISO medium-sized cavitation tunnel, we measured both the bubble size on the surface of the sintered mesh and the bubble distribution in the boundary layer. Then, drag reduction tests were performed on the cylinder type underwater moving models with cylindrical or round type tail shape. Experiments were carried out based on the presence or absence of tail jet injection. In the experiments, we changed the gas injection amount using the sintered mesh gas injector, and changed flow rate accordingly. As a result of the test, we observed increased bubbles around the body and confirmed the drag reduction as air injection flow rate increased.
