Head Wave Simulation of a KCS Model Using OpenFOAM for the Assessment of Sea-Margin

The paper presents calm water and head wave simulation results for a KRISO Container Ship (KCS) model. All simulations have been performed using the open source CFD toolkit, OpenFOAM. Initially, a systematic verification study is presented using the ITTC guideline to assess the simulation associated uncertainties. After that, a validation study is performed to assess the accuracy of the results. Next, calm water simulations are performed with sinkage and trim free condition at varying speeds. Later, head wave simulations are performed with heave and pitch free motion. Simulations are repeated for varying wave lengths to assess the encountered added resistance by the ship in design speed. The results are validated against available experimental data. Finally, power predictions are made for both calm water and head wave cases to assess the required propulsion power. The paper tries to assess the validity of using 25% addition as sea margin over calm water prediction to consider wave encounters

Head Wave Simulation of a KCS Model Using OpenFOAM for the Assessment of Sea-Margin

The paper presents calm water and head wave simulation results for a KRISO Container Ship (KCS) model. All simulations have been performed using the open source CFD toolkit, OpenFOAM. Initially, a systematic verification study has been performed using the ITTC guideline to assess the simulation associated uncertainties. After that, a validation study has been performed to assess the accuracy of the results. Next, calm water simulations have been performed with sinkage and trim free condition at varying speeds. Later, head wave simulations have been performed with heave and pitch free motion. Simulations were repeated for varying wave lengths to assess the encountered added resistance by the ship in design speed. The results have been validated against available experimental data. Finally, power predictions have been made for both calm water and head wave cases to assess the required propulsion power. The paper tries to assess the validity of using 25% addition as sea margin over calm water prediction to consider wave encounters.

Effects of Hook, Interceptor, and Water Jets on LCS Resistance/ Power, Sinkage, and Trim

Verification and validation of computational fluid dynamic simulations are performed at model and full scales for the high-speed littoral combat ship (LCS) surface combatant, including the effects of hook, interceptors, and water-jet propulsion. Predictions of the body force thrust, sinkage, and trim use a speed controller for attaining self-propulsion. Two methods for water-jet performance are used: 1) evaluation of forces based on integration of the stress over the wetted area of the hull and water-jet duct, pump casing, and nozzle (integral method) and 2) ITTC (2005) water-jet test procedure (control volume method). The comparison errors at model (resistance, sinkage, and trim) and full (power and trim) scales are satisfactory using both Froude (Fr) scaled model- and full-scale trial data, including the effects of the interceptors and water jets (WJ) on resistance/power, sinkage, and trim. For the model-scale model without WJs, the negative bottom hydrodynamic pressure near the water-jet inlets are observed without and with the hook simulations, and experiments with the hook. The negative bottom vertical force near the water-jet inlets for the simulations without the hook supports Savitsky’s (2014) assertion that semi-displacement monohulls do not exhibit hydrodynamic lift and disproves Giles’ (1992) assertion to the contrary. The hook and interceptors do not affect the pressure distribution significantly near the water-jet inlets. For the full scale model, the WJs induce bow up trim for the simulations and interpolated (between conditions)- and Fr scaled model-scale experiments. The negative bottom pressure and vertical force near the water-jet inlet for the simulations disprove Giles’ (1992) assertion that the WJs provide additional hydrodynamic lift. This is further supported by the comparisons of the vertical force % thrust vs. inlet velocity ratio for the LCS, with results shown in Bulten (2005) for a high-speed motor yacht. Bulten (2005) shows positive vertical force for inlet velocity ratios ≥ 1.25. However, LCS operates in the regime of an inlet velocity ≤ 1.2; thus, consistent with Bulten (2005), the vertical force is negative. The nonlinear effects between the interceptors and WJs are small such that a linear combination can provide a reasonable approximation.

A Fast Algorithm for the Prediction of Ship-Bank Interaction in Shallow Water

The hydrodynamic interaction induced by the complex flow around a ship maneuvering in restricted waters has a significant influence on navigation safety. In particular, when a ship moves in the vicinity of a bank, the hydrodynamic interaction forces caused by the bank effect can significantly affect the ship’s maneuverability. An efficient algorithm integrated in onboard systems or simulators for capturing the bank effect with fair accuracy would benefit navigation safety. In this study, an algorithm based on the potential-flow theory is presented for efficient calculation of ship-bank hydrodynamic interaction forces. Under the low Froude number assumption, the free surface boundary condition is approximated using the double-body model. A layer of sources is dynamically distributed on part of the seabed and bank in the vicinity of the ship to model the boundary conditions. The sinkage and trim are iteratively solved via hydrostatic balance, and the importance of including sinkage and trim is investigated. To validate the numerical method, a series of simulations with various configurations are carried out, and the results are compared with experiment and numerical results obtained with RANSE-based and Rankine source methods. The comparison and analysis show the accuracy of the method proposed in this paper satisfactory except for extreme shallow water cases.

Numerical Prediction of Hydrodynamic Performance of Planing Trimaran with a Wave-Piercing Bow

The central hull is the most important structure in the planing trimaran. In order to gain insight into the relationship between hydrodynamic performance and main hull shape, experimental tests and numerical simulations were carried out for volume Froude Number (FrΔ) ranging from 1.31 to 4.98. Dynamic sinkage and trim in the Dynamic Fluid Body Interaction (DFBI) six-degree-of-freedom model were considered. A validation study carried out by comparison of experimental test results with numerical results showed good consistency. To analyze the process of tunnel penetration and pressure change at the bottom of the boat, numerical simulation results for free surface, bottom streamline, and pressure distribution around the hull are given. A large triangular high-pressure area was observed in the front of the main hull for all volume Froude numbers. Consequently, the central drainage body, in reference to the profile of single planing craft with distinctive resistance performance, was redesigned into a wave-piercing shape. Total resistance, sinkage, and trim angle of the new model were then predicted by numerical method. The results show that the central drainage body has a significant impact on the hydrodynamic performance of the planing trimaran. Furthermore, the wave-piercing shaped main hull has a drag reduction effect.

RANS Simulation of the Flow Around a Ship Advancing in Shallow Water

This paper simulates the viscous flow about a ship advancing in calm water of different water depths using Reynolds-Averaged Naiver-Stokes (RANS) method. A Wigley hull is taken as the study object, and the hull is free in sinkage and trim in the simulations. The fluid domain is discretized into hexahedral structured grids. The overset grid method and the deforming grid method are applied in different cases to capture the ship’s sinkage and trim motion. The grid independence analysis and validation of numerical method are carried out under deep water condition. Then, systematic simulations are carried out under shallow water condition at different ship speeds. The resistance performance and the wave pattern characteristics are compared with deep water condition to demonstrate the shallow water effect. Furthermore, resistance coefficient results under water depth-to-draft ratios of 2.0 and 1.5 are presented and compared. All simulations show great consistency with the theoretical and other potential theory based numerical results.

A Numerical Method for Calculation of Ship–Ship Hydrodynamics Interaction in Shallow Water Accounting for Sinkage and Trim

Sinkage and trim, which often occur to ships moving in shallow water, do not only have an effect on the ship–ship hydrodynamic interaction forces but also increase the risk of grounding. Potential flow-based online calculation of ship–ship hydrodynamic interaction forces without accounting for dynamic sinkage and trim is able to capture the hydrodynamic interaction effects with fair accuracy; however, there are still discrepancies in many cases, especially in the case of shallow water. An algorithm based on the potential theory has been devised for real-time simulation of the hydrodynamic interaction between two ships in shallow water accounting for sinkage and trim. The shallow water condition is modeled using the mirror image method. The sinkage and trim are solved iteratively based on the principle of hydrodynamic balance, where a mesh trimming procedure is carried out when the waterline is changed. Simulations are performed with and without accounting for the sinkage and trim, and comparison with experimental results shows a fair agreement.

Stern Flap–Waterjet–Hull Interactions and Mechanism: A Case of Waterjet-Propelled Trimaran With Stern Flap

To research the stern flap (SF) and waterjet–hull interaction, unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (URANS) simulations for a waterjet-propelled trimaran considering sinkage and trim are performed. Uncertainty analysis of the numerical results for the bare hull (BH) model is presented. At the design speed Froude number (Fr) of 0.6 and under displacement state, the model-scaled trimaran, installed with stern flaps of varied angle and length, tests the BH and self-propulsion (SP) performance based on URANS simulations. For the resistance, the global effects due to motions and the local effects of SF, waterjets (WJ), and the coupled term between SF and WJ on the hull are separately analyzed. Taking the waterjet propulsion system into account, an SP model with reasonable stern flap effectively reduces the trim, the resistance acting on the hull and the waterjet thrust deduction which contributes to energy-saving and high-efficiency propulsion. The mechanism of the improved performance of the waterjet-propelled trimaran with stern flaps is discussed. For the resistance increment, the global effects, the local effects of SF and WJ are the major reason for resistance increase, and the nonlinear coupled term of local effects contributes to the resistance reduction most. In addition, the different resistance components of frictional, hydrostatic, and hydrodynamic are separately researched, which shows that the pressure resistance components plays a leading role in the total resistance reduction in the SP model with the suitable SF.

A Numerical Method for Calculation of Ship-Ship Hydrodynamics Interaction in Shallow Water Accounting for Sinkage and Trim

Sinkage and trim, which often occur to ships moving in shallow water, do not only have an effect on the ship-ship hydrodynamic interaction forces, but also increase the risk of grounding. An algorithm based on the potential theory has been devised for real-time simulation of the hydrodynamic interaction between two ships in shallow water accounting for sinkage and trim. The shallow water condition is modeled using the mirror image method; while the sinkage and trim are solved iteratively based on the principle of hydrostatic balance, where a mesh trimming procedure is performed when the waterline is changed. Simulations are performed with and without accounting for the sinkage and trim, and comparison with experimental results shows a fair agreement.

Numerical Prediction of Propeller-Hull Interaction Characteristics Using RANS Method

The paper presents the results of computational evaluation of the hull-propeller interaction coefficients, also referred to propulsive coefficients, based on the unsteady RANS flow model. To obtain the propulsive coefficients, the ship resistance, the open-water characteristics of the propeller, and the flow past the hull with working propeller were computed. For numerical evaluation of propeller open-water characteristics, the rotating reference frame approach was used, while for self-propulsion simulation, the rigid body motion method was applied. The rotating propeller was modelled with the sliding mesh technique. The dynamic sinkage and trim of the vessel were considered. The free surface effects were included by employing the volume of fluid method (VOF) for multi-phase flows. The self-propulsion point was obtained by performing two runs at constant speed with different revolutions. The well-known Japan Bulk Carrier (JBC) test cases were used to verify and validate the accuracy of the case studies. The solver used in the study was the commercial package Star-CCM+ from SIEMENS.