CFD Investigations of Ship Maneuvering in Waves Using naoe-FOAM-SJTU Solver

Abstract

Ship maneuvering in waves includes the performance of ship resistance, seakeeping, propulsion, and maneuverability. It is a complex hydrodynamic problem with the interaction of many factors. With the purpose of directly predicting the behavior of ship maneuvering in waves, a CFD solver named naoe-FOAM-SJTU is developed by the Computational Marine Hydrodynamics Lab (CMHL) in Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The solver is based on open source platform OpenFOAM and has introduced dynamic overset grid technology to handle complex ship hull-propeller-rudder motion system. Maneuvering control module based on feedback control mechanism is also developed to accurately simulate corresponding motion behavior of free running ship maneuver. Inlet boundary wavemaker and relaxation zone technique is used to generate desired waves. Based on the developed modules, unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) computations are carried out for several validation cases of free running ship maneuver in waves including zigzag, turning circle, and course keeping maneuvers. The simulation results are compared with available benchmark data. Ship motions, trajectories, and other maneuvering parameters are consistent with available experimental data, which indicate that the present solver can be suitable and reliable in predicting the performance of ship maneuvering in waves. Flow visualizations, such as free surface elevation, wake flow, vortical structures, are presented to explain the hydrodynamic performance of ship maneuvering in waves. Large flow separation can be observed around propellers and rudders. It is concluded that RANS approach is not accurate enough for predicting ship maneuvering in waves with large flow separations and detached eddy simulation (DES) or large eddy simulation (LES) computations are required to improve the prediction accuracy.