paddle wheel design software

Discussion in 'Boat Design' started by wallyc8035, Jul 30, 2014.

  1. Larry Forgy
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    Larry Forgy Junior Member

    In my defense, I did start my post: "I don't really know anything about paddlewheelers." Those snowmobiles are amazing. What happens when they slow down?
     
  2. JosephT
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    JosephT Senior Member

    LOL I've seen quite a few videos of snowmobiles zipping across water. They can obviously sink if they slow down. If the chassis had a water tight hull bottom that could change. Until then...beware

     
  3. Rurudyne
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    Rurudyne Senior Member

    High power to weight ratio tends to produce good performance, no mystery there. IIRC, snowmobile tracks, being relatively wide and made for getting traction where is doesn't want to come easily, are not the only way to pull off such tricks as some motorcycles have been able to pull off shorter hops, though I'm pretty sure they weren't using slick race track tires when they did.
     
  4. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

    Attached Files:

  5. Rurudyne
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    Rurudyne Senior Member

    Cool, squeegee drive.
     
  6. SamSam
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    SamSam Senior Member

  7. wallyc8035
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    wallyc8035 Junior Member

    Thank you samsam!
     
  8. SamSam
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    SamSam Senior Member

    You're welcome! It's caveman software, but as stated, with pretty pictures.
     
  9. Village_Idiot
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    Village_Idiot Senior Member

    For your application, I'd think something similar to a "power-pole" [ http://www.power-pole.com/JLMarine/Power-Pole/Blade-Series.aspx ] might be more efficient, some sort of "grasshopper legs" to walk the barge through shallow waters. You get more grip by pushing off the bottom then by pushing through the viscuous water. In fact, the old paddlewheelers that plied the Missouri/Mississippi rivers had a similar contraption of "grasshopper legs" to push the boats off of sandbars.

    As to paddlewheel design itself, I've often wondered if there is any advantage to a chevron-type pattern. Ag tractors went to chevron treads early on in their development, presumably to get better traction and have some self-cleaning properties.

    As for tracks, I'd skip those and go straight to cylinders, as shown in the Fordson snow machine (as well as Russian military, mine tailing machines and even an R/C toy):

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBjlSJf4274

    For really out-of-the-box propulsion concepts, I'd like to see something like a roots-type supercharger used for submerged propulsion. Likely not as efficient as a jet drive, but probably much more robust when it comes to trashy, weedy waters... sorry, no URL, has yet to be invented...
     
  10. Village_Idiot
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    Village_Idiot Senior Member

    You don't want to cut up hydrilla - it will grow new plants from the bits and pieces.

    The USDA/Corps of Engineers was working on biocontrol of hydrilla a while back (in both Florida and Texas), wonder what stage they are at in that work?...using flies and beetles to control the weed, rather than chemical or mechanical control. Problem with mechanical control is that the hydrilla grows about as fast as the mechanical cutter can harvest it, especially if the harvester is cutting it into pieces (job security)! Of course, if you can control the fertilizer loads in the system, particularly phosphorous, you will limit the food of the hydrilla and thus have better long-term success at control of the weed. However, that will be nearly impossible if you have adjacent agriculture or houses on the lakeshores with leaky septic systems. Probably best just to learn to live with it.
     
  11. Village_Idiot
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    Village_Idiot Senior Member

    They have an error in their press release. They state that it has a ground pressure of one pound per square foot. I thought that that was impossibly small, so did a few calculations. Assuming, for their scale model, that the tracks are roughly seven feet wide and around 36 feet long (on the ground), we have about 500 square feet of track on the ground. With 38 tons, that comes out to 152 pounds per square foot, or 1.07 pounds per square INCH. Still, very little ground pressure (with a light load), less than any other ground equipment that I'm aware of...
     

  12. Rurudyne
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    Rurudyne Senior Member

    Humorously: if the water you're in is such that you get traction or need to worry about the wheels being self cleaning.... ;)

    Also cylinder propulsion might make nice amas for a stabilized monohull design.
     
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