Turbulent Flow Induced by Full-Scale Ship in Harbor

Abstract

A chimera Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) method has been developed for time-domain simulation of transient flow induced by a ship approaching a berthing facility. The method solves the mean flow and turbulence quantities on embedded, overlapped, or matched multiblock grids. The unsteady RANS equations were formulated in an earth-fixed reference frame and transformed into general curvilinear, moving coordinate systems. A chimera domain decomposition techniques has been employed to accommodate the relative motions between different grid blocks. Calculations have been performed for a full-scale motor vessel in berthing operations. Comparisons have been made between the computations and measurements to demonstrate the feasibility of the chimera RANS approach for time-domain simulation of the hydrodynamic coupling between the ship and berthing structures. The numerical solutions successfully captured many important features of the transient flow around a berthing ship, including the underkeel flow acceleration, wake flow separation, and water cushioning effects between the ship and harbor quay wall.