Experimental determination of the added masses by method of towing

This paper is concerned with the experimental determination of the added masses of bodies completely or partially immersed in a fluid. The paper presents an experimental setup, a technique of the experiment and an underlying mathematical model. The method of determining the added masses is based on the towing of the body with a given propelling force. It is known (from theory) that the concept of an added mass arises under the assumption concerning the potentiality of flow over the body. In this context, the authors have performed PIV visualization of flows generated by the towed body, and defined a part of the trajectory for which the flow can be considered as potential. For verification of the technique, a number of experiments have been performed to determine the added masses of a spheroid. The measurement results are in agreement with the known reference data. The added masses of a screwless freeboard robot have been defined using the developed technique.