ABSTRACT
The motion of a hull is opposed by its resistance RT. It is well known that this resistance mainly depends on two main components, known as the viscous and the wave components. Navigating at small Froude Numbers (FN), the viscous component is the prevailing one. In recent years there has been a real progress in reducing the wave resistance, but although the interest of the industry in reducing this component is very recent. Numerous ways to achieve this objective have been attempted, including the use of water repellent paints, injections of polymers and the air lubrication which, in turn, can be done in different ways, such as the interposition of extended air layers between the water and the hull (ALDR), or the exploitation of the phenomena of cavitation (PCDR) or the
2 PRELIMINARY EXPERIENCES AND THEIR DEVELOPMENT
2.1 The experiences of Mc Cormick et al.
