Numerical Simulation of Submarine Surfacing With Six Degrees of Freedom in Regular Waves

Abstract

Submarine surfacing in waves is three dimensional unsteady motion and includes complex coupling between force and motion. This paper uses computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to solve RANS equation with coupled six degrees of freedom solid body motion equations. RANS equations are solved by finite difference method and PISO arithmetic. Level-set method is used to simulate the free surface. Computations were performed for the standard DARPA SUBOFF model. The structured dynamic overset grid is applied to the numerical simulation of submarine surfacing (no forward speed) in regular waves and computation cases include surfacing in the calm water, transverse regular waves with different ratio of wave height and submarine length (h/L = 0.01, 0.02, 0.03, 0.04) and transverse regular waves with different ratio of wave length and submarine length (λ/L = 0.5, 1, 1.5). The asymmetric vortices in the process of submarine surfacing can be captured. It proves that roll instability is caused by the destabilizing hydrodynamic rolling moment overcoming the static righting moment both under the water and in regular waves. Relations among maximum roll angle, surfacing velocity fluctuation and wave parameters are concluded by comparison with variation trend of submarine motion attitude and velocity of surfacing in different wave conditions. Simulation results confirm that wave height h/L = 0.04 and wave length λ/L = 1.5 lead to surfacing velocity fluctuation significantly. Maximum roll angle increases with the increase of wave height and wave length. Especially the law presents approximate linear relationship. Maximum roll angle with wave height (h/L = 0.04) can reach to 7.29° while maximum roll angle with wave length (λ/L = 1.5) can reach to 5.79° by contrast with 0.85° in calm water. According to the above conclusions, maneuverability can be guided in the process of submarine surfacing in waves in order to avoid potential safety hazard.