A comparison of the neumann-kelvin and rankine sourcemethods for wave resistance calculations

Abstract

Calm water wave resistance plays a very important role in ship hull design. Numerical methods are meaningful for this reason. In this study, two prevailing methods, the Neumann-Kelvin and the Rankine source method, were implemented and compared. The Neumann-Kelvin method assumes linearized free surface boundary condition and only needs to mesh the hull surface. The Rankine source method considers nonlinear free surface boundary condition and meshes both the ship hull surface and free surface. Both methods were implemented and the wave resistance of a Wigley III and three Series 60(Cb=0.6, 0.7, 0.8) hulls were analyzed. The results were compared with experimental results and the merits of both numerical techniques were quantified. Based on the results, it is concluded that the Rankine source method is more accurate in the calculation of the wave-making resistance. Using the Neumann-Kelvin method, it is found to be easier to model the hull and can be used for slender ships to solve problems like wave current coupling calculation.