A CAE analysis of a novel rigid inflatable boat

Rigid inflatable boats (RIBs) are a well-known typology of inflatable crafts, largely used as rescue and pleasure aims thanks to the high performance in terms of stability and loading surface. They are a hybrid boat with inflatable tubulars, like a dinghy, and rigid keel, like a traditional planing hull. This paper analyses the planing performance of a novel, patented, RIB model, that has the peculiarity to have tubulars that do not go uninterruptedly from bow to stern but only for about half the length. In this way it is possible to reduce the wetted surface and to channel the air under the hull, allowing a good ventilation. A wide computational fluid dynamics analysis allowed the authors to study the hydrodynamic behaviour of the boat and to discuss the results.