RANKINE PANEL METHODS FOR TRANSIENT FREE-SURFACE FLOWS

Abstract

A Rankine panel method is developed for the solution of transient wave-body interactions. In the presence of mean forward speed, the free surface and body boundary conditions are linearized about the double-body flow. The choices of space and time discretization are based on a systematic error and stability analysis. An artificial wave-absorbing beach is designed and employed over the outer portion of the free surface computational domain in order to avoid wave sloshing within the computational basin. The proposed numerical scheme is applied for the solution of flows around realistic ships with or without mean forward speed. The transient wave resistance problem is considered and the rate of convergence of the resultant forces and moments to their steady values is studies. Forced and free motion simulations are also carried out until steady-state is reached and the resulting forces and motions are compared with computations by the well established frequency domain version of the same Rankine panel method.