Development and Assessment of a Nonlinear Wave Prediction Methodology for Surface Vessels

Abstract

A numerical method for the prediction of steady nonlinear ship waves and their dependence on hull geometry is developed and assessed. The method employs desingularized Rankine singularities and Havelock singularities in an iterative boundary-integral solution procedure. The Fortran code incorporating this methodology, Das Boot, is tested on three validation cases and applied to a surface combatant hull form. Nonlinear wave elevation predictions for the case of a moving pressure pulse show a 0.988 correlation with a validated fifth-order spectral prediction. Nonlinear wave elevation predictions for a Series 60 hull form show a 0.974 correlation with model-scale wave elevation data. A nonlinear transom stern boundary condition is implemented. Stern wave predictions employing this model are shown to agree with an analytic two-dimensional solution. Initial predictions for a naval surface combatant incorporating a transom stern geometry show encouraging correlation, 0.81, with model-scale tank test data.