Study on the characteristics of trimaran seakeeping performance at various speeds

Abstract

Based on open-source CFD tool OpenFOAM and the hybrid-method solver qaleFoam, the numerical study about the effect of sailing speed on the motion of trimaran in waves of various headings is carried out. The wave heading ranges from head waves to stern waves, and three sailing speed of trimaran are chosen for simulation. The grid independence test is carried out first, and the computed results are compared with experimental results. Then, the numerical method is used to simulate the trimaran’s motion in waves of different parameters. It could be seen that the influence of the sailing speed on the added resistance is more significant than that on motion, especially in head wave and oblique head wave. In beam wave, the effect of sailing speed on the trimaran's motion is not noticeable, but the larger speed could reduce the added resistance. In the stern wave of low encounter frequency, the low sailing speed will reduce the added resistance and pitch.