Towing carriages and multi-motion carriages

Our self-propelled carriages are installed on rails above towing tanks, sea-keeping and manoeuvring basins, ocean basins, flumes or ice tanks. They are used to tow scaled, instrumented models through still water, waves or ice. We supply a wide range of sizes and configurations, from small educational carriages for university laboratories, through to high speed towing carriages for ship design evaluation and research. We also design and supply multi-axis motion carriages for sea-keeping and manoeuvring basins and ocean basins. These have an integrated sub-carriage for forced model manoeuvres using a towing system, as well as the ability to track free-sailing models. 

We build carriages for tanks from 1.5 up to 50 metres wide. The carriage speed and rails are tailored to the type of tests, vessels and model scales that the facility is designed for. For example slow, carriages with speed accuracy for ice tests or high speed carriages for naval applications.

Towing carriages for research institutes

These carriages can be either manned or unmanned and are typically more than six metres wide and over 100 metres in length with speeds greater than six metres per second. The self-propelled carriages are used for mounting precise instruments to measure forces and moments. 

We know that every project is unique; our expert team will work with you to develop a bespoke towing carriage solution that meets your specific requirements.

Towing carriages for universities and educational institutes

We design and build towing carriages for smaller research facilities based in universities and educational institutes. These carriages are designed for towing tanks from two metres or four metres wide, with a minimum length of 40 metres up to a maximum of around 60 metres. The carriages are typically designed to run at a maximum speed of three metres per second, but can run up to four metres per second if the tank is long enough.

Our unmanned carriages are light weight, rigid and robust platforms that can carry a wide variety of equipment. 

Instrumentation for use with carriages

We offer a full range of instrumentation for use with both our carriages or existing carriages. These include: 

• Resistance dynamometers
• Self-propulsion dynamometers
• Open water propeller dynamometers 
• Surface or underwater model force measuring balances
• Detachable carriage mounted large amplitude horizontal planar motion mechanisms
• Vertical planar motion mechanisms for underwater model manoeuvring testing
• Model clamps and guiding arms.