A dynamic simulation tool for ship's response during damage-generated compartment flooding

Abstract

Survivability of ships in damaged condition is an issue of paramount importance. Therefore, the regulatory framework is constantly updated, in response to the societal aversion towards accidents with severe impact on human life and on the environment. The introduction of the probabilistic damage stability framework was a major step towards the rationalization of the procedure for the assessment of survivability of ships in damaged condition. Subsequent revisions of SOLAS 2009 included the increase of the safety standard via the new formulations for the R-Index and for the calculation of the probability of survival (s-factor), which however is still performed by a hydrostatic approach. Flooding simulation tools can be used for an in-depth investigation of the transient response of a damaged ship, aiming to identify conditions that could jeopardize her survivability during the initial phases of flooding, or to assist in the improvement of the s-factor formulation. In this work, a newly developed flooding simulation tool, employing the Smoothed Particles Hydrodynamics (SPH) method coupled with a ship motions solver, is presented. The developed methodology predicts the dynamic response of the ship during the flooding process, primarily focusing on the initial stages, when particularly violent flow phenomena may be observed.