Investigation of higher-order springing of a ship in regular waves by experimental analysis and two-way CFD-FEA coupled method

In this paper, the higher-order springing phenomenon is addressed for a segmented barge ship model through experimental and numerical measures. An efficient in-house two-way coupled numerical solver between Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is developed and validated against experimental results. The coupling method is based on a domain-separated approach and necessitates the resolution of individual boundary value problems in distinct domains. To ensure convergence within these individual domains, an implicit numerical scheme is employed and further facilitated exchange of variables for coupling. The current approach emphasizes the overall convergence between two solvers, maintaining a strongly coupled setup to comprehensively address fluid-structure interaction phenomena, including added mass and damping effects. A series of tank tests were conducted first to measure the wave-induced sectional loads and motions, during which the springing responses to very high-order harmonics of wave load were observed. By comparing the numerical prediction with the tank test results for rigid body motion and flexible vertical bending moment (VBM), the proposed numerical method demonstrated agreement with experimental results, affirming its validity and robustness. Finally, the springing response up to 14th order harmonics is discussed and investigated.