The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is establishing a research and development program aimed at reducing in-transit hull resistance experienced by maritime vehicles due to waves and friction.
The Drag Reducing Architected Geometries program, which is part of DARPA’s Disruptioneering initiative, will be conducted in two phases over an 18-month period, the agency said Friday.
Resistance or “drag” forces vessels such as ships, boats, and uncrewed underwater vehicles to increase power to speed up, which requires bigger engines or more fuel.
DRAG will explore innovations in hull design and materials to decrease friction from water contact. It will exclude work on manufacturing scale-up, polymer injection approaches, or biofouling mitigation processes.
The first phase of the program will take place over nine months and involve the development of simulation and modeling tools, and later fabrication of optimized geometry of complex curvatures in the hull. The resulting design tool will be used in the second phase to create a prototype for testing.
“Previous research has enabled ship drag reduction in laminar flow conditions but not in transition and fully turbulent flow,” said Susan Swithenbank, program manager in DARPA’s Defense Sciences Office. “The problem with adding power is that it means you need more batteries, fuel, or a bigger engine, which increases the size of your ship or UUV, adding more drag. We aim to lower the drag coefficient to allow increased speed without increasing power or to go the same speed using less power.”