The influence of skegs on course stability of a barge with a different configuration

In a water tank experiment, it was found that slewing motions differ according to the bow shape of a barge. Due attention should be paid to the differing effects of skegs in accordance with the bow shape, and it is necessary to estimate the course stability of each barge by identifying the hydrodynamic forces acting on it. This study analyzed the skeg-induced characteristics of course stability of different types of barges. To this end, we used CFD to analyze the effects of nonlinearity, such as the generation of three-dimensional vortices; computed the sway force and yaw moment during drift and steady yaw motions of barges with different bow shapes; and analyzed the flow fields around the barges. As a result, it was verified that skeg contributed to the improvement of the course stability and the shape of a vortex generated in the stern section was found to be significantly influenced by skeg position and number.