Unsteady Numerical Hydrodynamics of a Rowing Shell Under Surge Excitation

The effect of oscillating harmonic surge motions on a Wigley hull in deep and shallow water was investigated numerically using unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier Stokes (URANSE) CFD simulations in a three-dimensional computational domain. The frequency and amplitude of the surge motions were varied independently and validated using experimental data. The URANSE CFD simulations were validated by comparison with the experimental results and unsteady thin-ship resistance predictions of Doctors et al. (2010). The numerical results show reasonable agreement with rowing shells experimental data and for the most part follow the expected trends across the entire operating range of Froude numbers. However, in this first iteration several discrepancies have been identified between the CFD simulations and the experimental results, especially across the frequency-response metrics. The numerical approach in this unsteady hydrodynamics analysis does indicate that with further adjustments and improvement of the quality of the computational domain, the more complex URANSE CFD simulations have the potential to provide a powerful alternative to experimental testing.