Abstract
Fins are widely used for roll stabilization of passenger ferries and high performance naval ships, among others. The Coanda effect is noticeable when a jet stream is applied tangentially to a curved wing surface since the jet can augment the lift by increasing the circulation. The Coanda effect has been found useful in various fields of aerodynamics and speculated to have practical applicability in marine hydrodynamics where various control surfaces are used to control motions of ships and the other offshore structures. In the present study, numerical computations have been performed to find proper jet momentum coefficients $C_j$ and trailing edge shapes suitable for the application of the Coanda effect to a stabilizer fin. The results show that the lift coefficient of the modified Coanda fin at the zero angle of attack ${\alpha}$ identically coincides with that of the original fin at ${\alpha}\;=\;25^{\circ}$ when Coanda jet is supplied at the rate of $C_j$ = 0.1. It is also shown that a fixed type fin stabilizer utilizing the Coanda effect can be implemented without changing the fin angle to actively control the motions of ships and the other offshore structures.
