Experimental determination of added hydrodynamic resistance caused by marine biofouling on ships

This paper presents a novel experimental approach towards establishing a method to predict the added resistance caused by the calcareous fouling. An extensive series of towing tests using the flat plates covered with artificial, 3D printed barnacles were carried out at the Kelvin Hydrodynamics Laboratory (KHL) at the University of Strathclyde. The tests were designed to examine the effects of 2 different fouling parameters, namely the coverage percentage and locations of the fouling accumulation, over a range of Reynolds numbers. The paper presents the added resistance due to calcareous fouling in terms of added frictional coefficient for a surface coverage of fouling for up to 20%, and for a surface coverage of different spatial heterogeneous fouling for a constant 5% over different speeds (Reynold numbers)