The Numerical Simulation of Ship Waves Using Cartesian-Grid and Volume-of-Fluid Methods

Cartesian-grid methods in combination with immersed-body and volume-of-fluid methods are ideally suited for simulating breaking waves around ships. A surface panelization of the ship hull is used as input to impose body-boundary conditions on a three-dimensional cartesian grid. The volume-of-fluid portion of the numerical algorithm is used to capture the free-surface interface, including the breaking of waves. The numerical scheme is implemented on a parallel computer. Various numerical issues are discussed, including implementing exit boundary conditions, conserving mass using a novel regridding algorithm, improving resolution through the use of stretched grids, minimizing initial transients, and enforcing hull boundary conditions on cartesian grids. Numerical predictions are compared to experimental measurements of ship models moving with forward speed, including model 5415 and model 5365 (Athena). The ability to model forced-motions is illustrated using a heaving sphere moving with forward speed.