Development of a numerical simulation tool for efficient and robust prediction of ship resistance

In this paper, a two-phase flow solver HiFoam® has been developed based on the OpenFOAM® to predict resistance of a ship in calm water. The VOF method of OpenFOAM® was reviewed and a simple flux limiter was introduced to enhance the robustness of the solver. The procedure for predicting ship motion was modified by introducing Quasi-Steady Fluid-Body Interaction (QS-FBI) with least square regression to improve the efficiency. Other minor factors were considered as well in terms of the efficiency and robustness. The HiFoam was applied to KCS and JBC simulations to validate its efficiency and accuracy by comparing the results to experimental data and STAR-CCM+. The HiFoam® was also applied to various ships and it showed good agreements to the experimental data.