Estimation of the Erosion Caused by a Ship's Propeller Wash Using Artificial Neural Networks

The scouring action of a ship's propeller wash was investigated in the laboratory. The temporal development of erosion within a mobile sand bed was measured with the results analyzed by an Artificial Neural Network. This paper demonstrates applicability of using Artificial Neural Networks in making accurate predictions of the scour depth produced by a ship's propeller wash. These predictions are compared with linear regression techniques that were applied in previous research.