Prediction of ship-ship interactions in ports by a non-hydrostatic model

Complicated channel geometry and currents may aggravate the interactions between passing ships and berthed ships, which should be evaluated and taken into account in a port design. A method for predicting the ship-ship interactions, based on a non-hydrostatic shallow water flow model, is presented in this paper and is validated by comparing the numerical results with experimental data. The method is subsequently applied to predict the interaction forces acting on a berthed ship due to a passing ship in ports. The influences of the difference of the water depths between the dock and the main channel, the dock geometry, the current and another berthed ship in the dock on the ship-ship interactions are studied. Analysis based on the numerical results is carried out, which is useful for the port design.