Numerical simulation of hull and propeller interaction in acceleration maneuver

Prediction of a ship’s trajectory during a maneuvering motion is so important. In this study, the acceleration maneuver for a twin-screw vessel is directly investigated using computational fluid dynamic (CFD) environment and unsteady RANS (Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes) solver. For this purpose, the self-propulsion and acceleration simulations with hull and propeller interaction for the well-known ONRT vessel were investigated. All simulations were performed by using Star-CCM+ software at two Froude numbers i.e. (0.2 and 0.3). The propeller rotational motion has been simulated using sliding mesh technique. Besides, numerical verification and validation are performed based on the procedures proposed by the ITTC. The validation of the self-propulsion results with the available experimental data shows a very good agreement among them. Also, changes in wave pattern, wake flow field during the acceleration maneuver were investigated.