CFD Methods in Ship Hydrodynamics

Book chapter, 2017

This article gives a brief overview of which ship hydrodynamic problems that are currently investigated using numerical methods, both in academia and in industry, and comments on the reliability in predictions that we see today. For brevity, emphasis has been put on applications related to resistance and propulsion predictions. The article is primarily based on the documentation of four relatively recent major events within the community, the conclusions of the Gothenburg 2010 Workshop in Ship CFD, the proceedings of the 30th Symposium on Naval Hydrodynamics, the Report of the Specialist Committee on CFD in Marine Hydrodynamics of the 27th ITTC, and the 4th International Symposium on Marine Propulsors. First, it is described how CFD can be used as a design tool to predict ship performance, then the possibility and need to assess scale effects with computational tools are discussed, and finally the potential for improved understanding of flow physics of importance to ship design and performance brought forward with detailed simulations is touched upon. Also, some general comments on current and future trends will be presented.