Heave and sway hydrodynamic coefficients of ship hull sections in deep and shallow water using Navier-Stokes equations

A methodology is presented to numerically determine the hydrodynamic coefficients of ship hull sections using a time domain Navier-Stokes model. Results are presented for three topologically distinct sections of a ship hull (skeg, midship and bulbous bow) subjected to heave and sway motions in shallow and deep water. The simulations have been performed with the open source Computational Fluid Dynamics OpenFOAM software. A preliminary assessment of the necessity of viscosity consideration on the determination of the hydrodynamic coefficients, which should depend on the section topology and depth, is carried out. Results demonstrate an overall good agreement of the added mass and damping coefficients between the calculated values and the ones obtained with a boundary equation method potential flow formulation. An exception is the skeg section in shallow waters.