Resistance Tests of an Articulated Pusher Barge System in Deep and Shallow Water

Articulated pusher barge vessel is a short-distance transport vessel with good economic performance and practicability, which is widely used in the Yangtze River of China. In this present work, the resistance performance of articulated pusher barge vessel in deep water and shallow water was studied by model tests in the towing tank and basin of Shanghai Ship and Shipping Research Institute. During the experimental investigation, the articulated pusher barge vessel was divided into three parts: the pusher, the barge and the articulated pusher barge system. Firstly, the deep water resistance performance of the articulated pusher barge system, barge and the pusher at design draught T was studied, then the water depth h was adjusted, and the shallow water resistance at h/T = 2.0, 1.5 and 1.2 was tested and studied respectively, and the difference between deep water resistance and shallow water resistance at design draught were compared. The results of model tests and analysis show that: 1) in the study of deep water resistance, the total resistance of the barge was larger than that of the articulated pusher barge system. 2) for the barge, the shallow water resistance increases about 0.4–0.7 times at h/T = 2.0, 0.5–1.1 times at h/T = 1.5, and 0.7–2.3 times at h/T = 1.2. 3) for the pusher, the shallow water resistance increases about 1.0–0.4 times at h/T = 2.7, 1.2–0.9 times at h/T = 2.0, and 1.7–2.4 times at h/T = 1.6. 4) for the articulated pusher barge system, the shallow water resistance increases about 0.2–0.3 times at h/T = 2.0, 0.5–1.3 times at h/T = 1.5, and 1.0–3.5 times at h/T = 1.2. Furthermore, the water depth Froude number Frh in shallow water was compared with the changing trend of resistance in shallow water.