Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!att!pacbell!amdahl!amdcad!military
From: kiravuo@kampi.hut.fi (Timo Kiravuo)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Laminar Flow in Attack Subs
Message-ID: <27047@amdcad.AMD.COM>
Date: 31 Aug 89 09:39:26 GMT
References: <27026@amdcad.AMD.COM>
Sender: cdr@amdcad.AMD.COM
Organization: Helsinki University of Technology, Computing Center
Lines: 29
Approved: military@amdcad.amd.com



From: kiravuo@kampi.hut.fi (Timo Kiravuo)
In article <27026@amdcad.AMD.COM> esmythe@atl.ge.com (Erich J Smythe) writes:

>Dolphins are believed to achieve laminar flow throughout the
>length of their bodies, and in the 60's there was a research
>program to make a submarine hull much the same as a dolphin,
>i.e., not a perfect cylinder.

I read somewhere (SF author, but non-fiction; Asimov, Clarke?)
that dolphins have "active skin"; the skin can adjust to pressure
differences and prevent turbulences before they start. I suppose
that with modern technology it might be possible to cover the
hull of a submarine with a soft skin, underneath which there
would be pressure sensors and some hydraulics to change the
hydrodynamics of the skin when necessary.

I also remember that the book said that dolphins move faster
underwater than they should be able to because of the lack of
turbulences. They use much less energy than anything man-made. So
a softskinned submarine could be silent, fast and use less
energy, with a strong hull under the skin.

--
Timo Kiravuo
Helsinki University of Technology, Computing Center
work: 90-451 4328, home: 90-676 076
kiravuo@hut.fi  sorvi::kiravuo  kiravuo%hut.fi@uunet.uu.net