Numerical Simulation on Dynamic Characteristics of Longitudinal Launching of Large Container Ships

Abstract

The upsizing and rapid development of container ships has resulted in many large ships launching in small slipways due to the lagging of advanced equipment. In particular, the dynamic characteristics of these large ships in the longitudinal launching operation under restricted water are yet to be studied in detail. In this study, a ship model to simulate the longitudinal launching process of an 8500 TEU container ship was created based on the URANS method. The ship resistance in calm water was determined and validated against the experimental data. The influence of the stern appendage on the ship’s resistance and the flow field around the hull, with and without the aft poppet, under various water-depth-to-draught ratios was analyzed. A comparison of the ship’s resistance between the numerical and the experimental data shows that the difference is minimal, within 1.5%. The numerical results revealed that the aft poppets change the flow pattern and effectively reduce the pressure drag in the drifting stage. The shallow water causes a restraining effect on the ship. The proposed analytical approach in the numerical analysis, considering the aft poppet and the water depth, could provide a better simulation for a large ship’s longitudinal launching operation.