Numerical Simulation of Surface Ship Motion in Regular Head Waves

Abstract

The motion of surface ship in wave environments is fully three-dimensional unsteady motion and includes complex coupling with hydrodynamic force and dynamic motion of the rigid body. This paper presents simulations of the KCS model with motions involve pitch and heave in regular head waves. Computations were performed with an in-house viscous CFD code to solve RANS equation coupled with six degrees of freedom (6DOF) solid body motion equations and dynamic overset grids designed for ship hydrodynamics. RANS equations are solved by finite difference method and PISO arithmetic. Level-set method is used to simulate the free surface flow. The simulation geometry includes KCS hull and rudder under three conditions with three wave length and wave height combinations and two velocities (Fr = 0.26 and 0.33). Total resistance coefficient CT, heave motion z and pitch angle θ have been compared between CFD and EFD. Comparisons show that pitch and heave are much better predicted than the resistance. In the first section, simulations considered only 2 degrees of freedom (heave and pitch), for the second section, numerical simulation added the rolling motion to study the KCS in regular head waves. The second simulation cases were carried out with the same velocity and wave length and amplitude combination as the first cases. Comparisons of heave and pitch motion between 2DOF simulations and 3DOF simulations were presented in this paper. Results show the difference of heave motion z and pitch angle θ between the 2DOF and 3DOF-simulasions. In both cases the free surface were studied as an example of the flow generated by the ship pitching and heaving.