A study on flow field around full ship forms in maneuvering motion

To estimate the maneuvering ability of a ship, an accurate estimation of the hydrodynamic forces and moment acting on the ship's hull is indispensable. For the purpose of developing a numerical method of computing the viscous flow field around a hull and evaluating its validity, the hydrodynamic pressure on the hull and the velocity field were measured. Two full ship models with different hull forms in the aft part were used for the experiment. From the results of pressure measurements, the distribution of hydrodynamic lateral forces was obtained. The simulation method is a numerical solution of the Navier-Stokes equation based on a finite-volume method and applied to the maneuvering motion. The measured and computed results agree qualitatively well, and the method is a valuable tool for estimating the maneuvering ability of a ship. The typical characteristics of the flow field in the steady turning condition are revealed by the numerical simulation, and the mechanism of the relations between hull form, flow field, and hydrodynamic forces are clarified.