Maneuvering Prediction of a VLCC Model Based on CFD Simulation for PMM Tests by Using a Circulating Water Channel

Since ship maneuverability is a vitally important characteristic of ship design, several experimental techniques to determine ship maneuverability are recommended, among which using the planar motion mechanism (PMM) test for captive model in a circulating water channel (CWC) has become a new and effective way for captive model tests. This paper uses the numerical method to study the viscous hydrodynamic forces acting on a KVLCC2 model. The viscous flow around the model and its hydrodynamic forces in the oblique towing, pure sway and pure yaw test are simulated by CFD, in which the steady and unsteady RANS equations in conjunction with a RNG k-ε turbulence model are solved. By applying the dynamic mesh technique, the motion of pure sway is simulated. As a key technique for realization of pure yaw motion a new method combining the layering and local remeshing that treats restricted water region problem like in a CWC is developed. Accuracy of the proposed numerical method is confirmed by comparing the calculated hydrodynamic forces with the measured one. Then hydrodynamic derivatives of ship maneuvering movements are analyzed, and used in maneuvering prediction which is based on MMG model for turning test. Results show that the hybrid dynamic mesh technique is a practically efficient way to simulation of the pure yaw motion in CWC, which balances computational accuracy and efficiency. It also demonstrates that the present numerical model gives satisfactory results on PMM tests and maneuvering motions in terms of accuracy and it can be an economical method for engineering practices.