Investigation of the Bulbous Bow Effect on the Resistance of a Container Ship by CFD Method

In commercial ships, wave making resistance is a part of total resistance which to reduce it, a bulbous bow is added to the ship bow. To investigate the effect of bulbous bow on total resistance, a container ship model is simulated with and without the bulbous bow at three Froude Numbers: 0.22, 0.26 and 0.30. Initially, numerical simulation validation has been done, which shows that the results are valid. According to the results, the bulbous bow increases frictional resistance by a maximum of 2%. In these three Froude Numbers, the pressure resistance decreases by 17.1, 31.6 and 25.9%, respectively. At three mentioned Froude Numbers, bulbous bow decreases total resistance by 1.8, 8.9 and 13.3% respectively. In addition, the bulbous bow reduced the height of the wave made on the hull and the free surface. Bulbous bow causes positive effects on the hydrodynamic behavior of the vessel, which increase with increasing Froude Number.