COMPARISON OF EXPERIMENTAL AND CFD RESULTS FOR A TANKER LIKE VESSEL

The turning circle manoeuvre of a self-propelled tanker like ship model is numerically simulated through the integration of the unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) equations coupled with the equations of the motion of a rigid body. The solution is achieved by means of the unsteady RANS solver developed at CNR-INSEAN. The model is considered single is a twin screw single rudder one. Each propeller is taken into account by a model based on the actuator disk concept; anyhow, it will be emphasized that, in order to correctly capture the turning manoeuvring behaviour of the model, a suitable description of the propeller performance in oblique flow operations should be considered; moreover, the effects of the stern appendages (shaft lines and brackets) on the vessel's manoeuvring capabilities will analysed also. Comparison with experimental data from free running tests will demonstrate the feasibility of the CFD computations and in particular of the proposed model for the propeller side force estimation. The main features of the flow field, with particular attention to the vortical structures detached for the hull is presented as well.