CFD validation and analysis of turning maneuvers of a surface combatant in regular waves

Abstract

A Computational Fluid Dynamics analysis of the maneuvering in waves is described for the Office of Naval Research Tumblehome surface combatant. The investigation entails simulations of turning maneuvers in regular waves for three different wave lengths including comparison to experiments for validation purposes. The performance of a body force propeller model is evaluated against the transient modelling of an actual propeller with full spatial and temporal discretization. The results of both propeller models followed the general trend observed in the model test. Time-averaged responses such as surge and sway velocity, yaw rate, and drift angle are over-predicted by the body force propeller model, resulting in smaller turning circles with under-prediction of maneuvering characteristics such as advance and tactical diameter. However, fluctuation amplitudes of ship responses were not noticeably affected by the choice of the propeller model, and the predicted values were comparable to the model tests.