Numerical simulation of rotating arm test for prediction of submarine rotary derivatives

The numerical method is used for predicting the rotary-based hydrodynamic coefficients of a submarine. Unsteady RANS simulations are carried out to numerically simulate the rotating arm test performed on the SUBOFF submarine model. The dynamic mesh method is adopted to simulate the rotary motions. From the hydrodynamic forces and moments acting on the submarine at different angular velocities, the rotary derivatives of the submarine can be derived. The computational results agree well with the experimental data. The interaction between the sail tip vortex and the cross flow in the hull boundary layer is discussed, and it is shown that the interaction leads to the “out-of-plane” loads acting on the submarine.