Present State of Numerical Ship Hydrodynamics and Validation Experiments

This paper gives a perspective on the current state of computational and experimental ship hydrodynamics, which has experienced significant progress and rapid change recently. In particular, with the use of more powerful computers and parallel computations, Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) calculations are more feasible for support of design studies. Some of the areas where RANS computations are being used for surface ships are demonstrated and an attempt is made to provide an indication of where the naval community is at in its ability to accurately predict some of these complex flow phenomenon. Concurrently, there have been efforts to obtain high quality experimental data for validating the computational tools. Such efforts have sought to obtain detailed flow field and wave height data in addition to conventional force data. This detailed information can be used to help quantify how accurately the flow physics can be predicted and begins to allow for a more formal verification and validation of the computations.