Assessment of the Manoeuvrability Characteristics of a Twin Shaft Naval Vessel Using an Open-Source CFD Code

The purpose of this study is to assess the quality of the manoeuvre prediction of a twin-shaft naval vessel by means of a time-domain simulator based on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) hydrodynamic coefficients. The simulator uses a modular approach in which the hull, rudders, appendices and propellers are based on different mathematical models. The hydrodynamic coefficients of the hull in the bare and appended configurations are computed using virtual captive tests performed with an open-source CFD code: OpenFoam. This paper demonstrates that the application of the CFD hydrodynamic coefficients led to a good estimate of the macroscopic characteristics of the main IMO manoeuvres with respect to the experimental measures. The adopted test case is the DTMB 5415M frigate both with and without appendages. This test case has been investigated in several research studies and international benchmark workshops, such as SIMMAN 2008, SIMMAN 2014 and many CFD workgroups.

Automated summary

This study evaluated the prediction quality of a twin-shaft naval vessel's manoeuvre using CFD hydrodynamic coefficients, demonstrating that the application of these coefficients provided a good estimate of the main IMO manoeuvres. The DTMB 5415M frigate was used as a test case, which has been investigated in various research studies and international benchmark workshops.