Comparison of RANS Method and Discrete Vortex Method on Simulating the Roll Motion of a Ship With Bilge Keels

The prediction of roll motion of a ship section with bilge keels is particularly difficult because the flow separation and vortex shedding under the hull significantly affect the behavior of roll damping. To predict the roll damping and roll motion directly, the numerical models must simulate the fluid viscosity. Recently, Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) method and Discrete Vortex Method (DVM) have been applied in this area and show promising results. In this paper, we will use both methods to simulate the free roll-decay motion of a ship section with bilge keels. The numerical predictions of the roll time histories will be compared with experimental measurements. Besides, the numerically-predicted vorticity distributions at different time instants near a bilge keel will be shown and compared. Moreover, the computation times for both numerical methods will also be reported. In this work, we will conduct the comparison for a number of cases that are with different bilge-keel heights and bilge-keel installation angles. Thus, the accuracies and the computational efficiencies will be evaluated comprehensively.