RANS Simulation of a Container Ship Using a Single-Phase Level Set Method with Overset Grids and the Prognosis for Extension to Self-Propulsion Simulator

Yusuke Tahara¹, Robert V. Wilson², Pablo M. Carrica³ and Frederick Stern^3
1Osaka Prefecture University, Osaka, Japan
²UT SimCenter at Chattanooga, The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
³IIHR-Hydroscience and Engineering, The University of Iowa

Steady flow simulations for the KRISO Container Ship (KCS) are performed for towing and self-propulsion cases. The main focus in the present work is placed on the evaluation of CFD as a tool for hull-form design along with application of state-of-the-art technology in the flow simulations. Two Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equation solvers are employed, i.e., CFDSHIP-IOWA version 4 and FLOWPACK version 2004e, for towing and self-propulsion cases, respectively. New features of CFDSHIP-IOWA version 4 are a single-phase level-set method to model the free-surface and overset gridding capability to increase resolution in the flow and wave fields. On the other hand, those of FLOWPACK version 2004e are related to a self-propulsion scheme where the RANS solver is coupled with a propeller-performance program based on infinitely-bladed propeller theory. The present work is based on a close interaction between IIHR-Hydroscience and Engineering of the University of Iowa and Osaka Prefecture University. In the following, overviews are given of the present numerical methods and results are presented and discussed for KCS towing and self-propulsion cases, including comparison with available EFD data. Additional evaluation is provided through discussion of the recent CFD Workshop Tokyo 2005, where both methods appeared to yield very promising results. Finally, some concluding remarks are made.