SWATH GOLF CLUB HULL FLOW STUDIES

Analytical and experimental results are presented from an exploratory investigation of the flow phenomena encountered with golf club SWATH d esigns. The focus of this work is testing done on three closely relate d SWATH models with common hulls and strut waterplane shapes. The mode ls are constructed to allow testing of the hulls in three athwartship positions: a full golf club, a conventional SWATH and an intermediate partial golf club. Traditional measured data augmented by flow visuali zation information are used to identify flow phenomena present In addi tion to the test program, supporting calculations were made with advan ced hydrodynamic flow codes to assess these analytic teals and provide insight into flow phenomena encountered.