Numerical and experimental study on seakeeping performance of a SWATH vehicle in head waves

The seakeeping characteristics of a Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull (SWATH) vehicle equipped with fixed stabilizing fins was investigated by experimental and numerical methods The calculation methods range from viscous CFD simulation based on an unsteady RANS approach to Boundary Element Method (BEM) based on Three Dimensional Translating-pulsating Source Green Function (3DTP). Responses of ship motions in head regular waves and nonlinear effects on motion responses with increasing wave amplitude were analyzed. Numerical simulations have been validated by comparisons with experimental tests. The results indicate that the heave and pitch transfer functions depict two peaks with the increase of wave length. Comparisons amongst experimental data and different numerical calculations illustrate that the RANS method predicts ship motions with higher accuracy and allows the detection of nonlinear effects. The heave and pitch transfer functions see a downward trend with the increasing wave amplitude in the resonant zone at low speed.