Nominal wake field of a ship with moonpool

Abstract

ABSTRACT To investigate the influence of a moonpool on the nominal wake field of a ship during calm water navigation, computational fluid dynamics calculations are performed using the STAR-CCM + software. The analysis found that the influence of boundary layer separation in the moonpool causes the hull boundary layer thicker, which reduces the average axial velocity of the propeller behind the moonpool and enhances the wake. The uniformity of the axial velocity distribution at the propeller disc is also reduced, worsening the uniformity of the wake field. In addition, the wake field characteristics of rear propellers change periodically with the fluctuation of moonpool. As a result the propeller bearing force and vibration characteristics change periodically with not only blade frequency and multiple blade frequency, but also the fluctuation of moonpool. These phenomena make the performance of propellers on ships with moonpool different from that of normal ships.