13.

42 LECTURE 13:
FLUID FORCES ON BODIES

SPRING 2003

c
A. H. TECHET & M.S. TRIANTAFYLLOU

1. Morrison’s Equation

Using a two dimensional cylinder within a two-dimensional flow we can demonstrate some of the principles

we will use to determine forces on bodies in unsteady flow. Fluid particles in contact with a body surface

are motionless relative to the body so that a boundary layer is formed. From basic fluid mechanics we know

that for an inviscid flow around a cylinder we have two stagnation points at which the pressure is maximum.

In the case of a viscous flow the fluid particles follow the sides of the cylinder but as they pass a point on the

cylinder, where the pressure gradient becomes adverse, the particles will begin to separate. This separating

creates the wake which is constrained within the boundary (shear) layer originating from the separation

point.

In a turbulent flow the fluid in the boundary layer has stronger mixing, allowing the vorticity to spread

out and diffuse and for the flow to remain attached. Thus the separation point is further aft and the wake is

narrower and pressure (form) drag is reduced from the laminar case. The condition of the cylinder surface

(roughness) may also cause the early transition to turbulent flow, however in this case the frictional drag

increases due to roughness.

Following the above discussion we can think of the drag as influenced by the width of the wake (narrower

wake implies less profile drag for the same diameter object) and can better understand the discussion from

lecture 12 using the system energy to determine the drag force on a body.

From last lecture the resulting force on the body takes the form of Morrison’s Equation. This is a

combination of an inertial term and a drag term.

13.42 Spring 2003.

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1
(1.1) Fx (t) = D(t) = ρCM ∇ U̇ + ρCD A U |U |
2

In order to obtain rough estimates it is advantageous to use Morrison’s equation with constant coefficients.

Suppose we want to find the estimates of the wave forces on a fixed structure. The procedure is as follows:

• 1.) Select an appropriate wave theory (linearized waves, or other higher order if necessary).

• 2.) Select the appropriate CM and CD based on Reynolds number, and other factors.

• 3.) Apply Morrison’s Equation

Wave Theory CD CM Comments Reference

Linear Theory 1.0 0.95 Mean values for ocean wave

data on 13-24in cylinders Wiegel, et al (1957)

1.0-1.4 2.0 Recommended design values based on

statistical analysis of published data Agerschou and Edens (1965)

Stokes 3rd order 1.34 1.46 Mean Values for oscillatory

flow for 2-3 in. cylinders Keulegan and Carpenter (1958)

Stokes 5th order 0.8-1.0 2.0 Recommended values based on

statistical analysis of published data Agerschou and Edens (1965)

We can see from the above table that for linear waves the recommended values for drag and mass coeffi-

cients are 1.0-1.4 and 2.0 respectively. The range of drag coefficients allows us to account for roughness and

Reynolds number effects. These values are for rough estimates. In reality these coefficients vary widely with

the carious flow parameters and with time. Bretschneider showed that the values of CD and CM can even

vary over one wave cycle. Even if we ignore the time dependence of these coefficients we must account for

the influence of other parameters.

 FLUID FORCES ON BODIES 3

• Reynolds number and roughness: For smooth cylinders at Reynolds numbers around 105 laminar

flow transitions to turbulent flow, and there is a dip in CD as a function of Re. For larger Reynolds

numbers the separation point remains essentially constant and thus so does the drag coefficient. In

this range CD is Reynolds number independent.

Roughness causes the change from laminar to turbulent flow at a lower Reynolds number and

increases the friction and causes a larger CD .

The mass coefficient is influenced by the changes in the boundary layer and is thus also effected

Reynolds number and roughness.

u(z,t)

0
x

Figure 1. Cylinder in non-uniform inflow

Suppose a vertical cylinder is subject to a current with a horizontal velocity changing both in time and

vertically in the z-direction: u(z, t). The approach in practice is to evaluate using Morrison’s formula the

force per unit length (eq. 1.2) at each point along the cylinder length and then integrate to get the total

force (eq. 1.3).

π 2 1
(1.2) F (z, t) = CM ρ d u̇(z, t) + CD ρ d u(z, t) |u(z, t)|
4 2

Z l
(1.3) F (t) = F (z, t) dz
0
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The moment on the structure around the origin (point 0) is found as

Z l
(1.4) M (t) = z F (z, t) dz
0

There are several limitations to these integrals. First we are limited to assume that each section does not

influence the adjacent sections’ flow. This assumption becomes questionable in the case of a cross flow that

introduced a direct relation among the flow of neighboring sections.

The second assumption is that the cylinder is not piercing the free surface because in this case the water

splashing must be taken into account. In the absence of experimental data we use Morrison’s equation as a

first estimate, but we should attempt a correction for the surface piercing phenomema.

2. Forces on an Inclined Cylinder

Suppose that a cylinder of diameter, d, and large length, l, is at an angle within an unsteady inflow, u(t),

and we would like to use Morrison’s equation. It has been suggested that in such cases of slender objects

(large ratio l/d) that we can use the following approach.

First decompose the inflow velocity into two components Un and Ut where Un is the velocity normal to

the cylinder and Ut is the component tangential to the cylinder. The we can use the following expressions:

π 2 1
(2.1) Fn = CM ρ d Un + CD ρ d Un |Un |
4 2

1
(2.2) Ft = Cf ρ πd Ut |Ut |
2

to determine the normal and tangential forces per unit length. The mass and drag coefficients are found using

the diameter of the cylinder and the normal velocity as in the general (non-inclined) case. The frictional

coefficient, Cf , is used in the tangential case instead of the drag coefficient since the drag results from the

flow along (tangential) to the cylinder.

 FLUID FORCES ON BODIES 5

In the three-dimensional case where we have a vertical cylidner subject to a velocity vector (u, v, w) then

we must decompose this velocity into components normal and tangential to the cylinder. The convention

is to take the z-axis parallel with the cylinder axis (centerline) so that the w component is the tangential
√
component of velocity: Un = u2 + v 2 and Ut = w. Then the above equations (2.1 and 2.2) can be used.

These equations have limitations. Experiments have shown that these expressions are valid up to incline

angles of about 60◦ .

3. Morrison’s Equation When both the body and fluid are moving

Assume that a vertical cylinder is moving with velocity u(t) within a fluid with velocity v(t), both velocities

in the horizonal direction and uniform in space, then we can write Morrison’s equation as follows:

1 π 2 π 2
(3.1) F (t) = ρ CD d h [v(t) − u(t)] |v(t) − u(t)| + ρ CM d h v̇(t) − ρ (CM − 1) d h u̇(t)
2 4 4

where d is the cylinder diameter and h the cylinder height. It is good to note that this equation does not

account for the inertial force due to the mass of the cylinder as required by Newton’s law. For example if

the cylinder was left in the free stream the we would set F (t) = m u̇(t), where F (t) is from equation 3.1 and

m is the mass of the cylinder.

4. Recap: Relative Importance of Inertia versus Drag Force

4.1. Integrated Force. If we consider the force caused on a vertical cylinder in depth H by a linear wave

with wavelength, λ and height h then the inertial force FI is:

Z 0
π 2 h 2 cosh[k(z + H)]
(4.1) FI = CM d ρ ω cos(ωt) dz
−H 4 2 sinh(kH)

The wave elevation is

h
(4.2) η(x, t) = cos(kx − ωt)
2
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By integrating we find the inertial force

π h
(4.3) FI = ρ d2 ω 2 cos(ωt)
4 2k

Similarly we can find the drag force FD

Z 0
1 h2 cosh2 [k(z + H)]
(4.4) FD (t) = ρ CD d ω 2 sin(ωt) |sin(ωt)| dz
−H 2 4 sinh2 (kH)
1 h2 sinh(2Kh) + 2kH
(4.5) = ρCD d ω 2 sin(ωt) |sin(ωt)|
2 4 4k sinh2 (kH)

The maximum values of these two force components is found to be:

π h
(4.6) FIM = ρ d2 ω 2
4 2k

1 h2 sinh(2Kh) + 2kH
(4.7) FDM = ρ CD d ω 2
2 4 4k sinh2 (kH)

To compare the effects of inertial versus drag components we can take the ratio FI to FD .

FD CD h sinh(2kH) + 2kH
(4.8) =
FI πCm d 4 sinh2 (kH)

Let’s take the typical values for drag and mass coefficients, 1.0 and 2.0 respectively. We can thus find how

the maximum drag force compares to the maximum inertial force:

h 4 sinh2 (kH)
FDM > FIM when d > 2π sinh(2kH)+2kH

5. Inertia Dominated Waves

In the regimes where drag is unimportant (below 10% of the total force) we use the theory of inertia

dominated flows neglecting the viscous terms. When a large object is moving with stead speed near the

water free surface then it is subject to a steady force that is caused by skin friction, separation, and wave

making. The last part can be treated as an inviscid flow (wave making resistance).
 FLUID FORCES ON BODIES 7

For this section let’s concentrate on the problem of forces and motions caused by waves on large objects.

We will denote the incident wave potential by φI eiωt . These are the waves with frequency ω as if no structure

existed. We denote the total potential by φ which satisfies the following relations:

(1) Inside the fluid Laplace’s equation holds: ∇2 φ = 0

∂φ
(2) On the bottom there is no normal velocity: ∂n =0
∂φ
(3) On the structure ∂n = Vn , where Vn is the velocity normal to the structure surface.

(4) At the free surface, the kinematic and dynamic boundary conditions must be satisfied. These equa-

tions are nonlinear and the general solution to the resulting problem is in general impossible. For

this reason we use the first order combined boundary condition:

φtt + g φz = 0 at z = 0.

(5) At infinity we must use an appropriate radiation condition. Such that the potential φ − φI must

contain only outgoing waves. Otherwise we are left with a meaningless solution of waves generated

at infinity.

As a result of these assumptions the problem becomes linear. It is to be expected, however, that the error

will be huge for cases of extreme waves and structure motion and we must correct for this when designing.

In general though for irregular ocean waves the present approach provides useful results.

Since the problem is linear we can then write the total potential as a sum of the incident, diffraction, and

radiation potentials.

(5.1) φ = (φI + φD + φR ) eiomegat

The diffraction potential, φD , is caused by the presence of the structure when it is not moving, and the

radiation potential is caused by the body motions.

The body, unconstrained in any fashion, is assumed to be free to move in six-degrees of freedom: surge,

sway, heave, roll, pitch, and yaw. These motions are denoted by xj where j = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. It is customary
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to write the complex potential in the following form:

X
6
(5.2) φR = ẋj φj
j=1

where ẋj is the velocity in the jth direction and φj is the potential caused by a unit motion in the jth

direction.

This potential decomposition is the fundamental step in vessel motion prediction and can be summarized

as follows: The total potential, φ, describing the fluid flow around a structure in the presence of waves,

equals the sum of the undisturbed wave potential, φI , the potential due to the presence of the body when it is

motionless, φd , and the radiation potential, φR caused by the body motion.

This will be the fundamental building block for our analysis of ship motions in waves.