Numerical simulation of planing hull motions in calm water and waves with overset grid

Abstract

This paper presents simulations of planing hull motions in calm water and waves with the unsteady RANS solver and the overset grid in Star-CCM+. The calm-water simulations were performed for the Fridsma planing hull model at Froude numbers from 0.59 to 1.78. Convergence studies were first carried out on dimensions of overset domain, grid resolution, time step and turbulence model, including k–ɛ, Realizable k–ɛ, k–ω, and SST k–ω models. Uncertainties in numerical solutions due to spatial discretization were examined. The best-practice settings were summarized and used for simulations of the Fridsma planing hull with calm water and regular waves, as well as the investigations of scale effect. For the calm-water simulations, resistance, sinkage and trim of the Fridsma planing hull and LRI-II hull were compared with experimental data and empirical results based on the Savitsky method. Additionally, the recommended settings were also applied to two full-scale planing hulls, LRI-II and OTH-Vp, in irregular waves. Convergence studies were also carried out on wave generation. Predicted motions and vertical accelerations were compared with sea trial data. Validation studies show that the predictions are in good agreement with experimental data.