CFD prediction of ship seakeeping and slamming behaviors of a trimaran in oblique regular waves

Abstract

The main hull encounters waves at first and causes waves to break, when trimarans are subject to the slamming in head waves. At this moment, emergence phenomena of side hulls will not occur. Thus, the slamming study of trimarans in oblique waves presents further practical significance. In this study, a CFD method is used for trimaran seakeeping and slamming analysis. An overset grid technique is adopted to simulate ship motions in waves. Firstly, to further verify the present method, a series of verification and validation studies is conducted. Then, the motion responses and slamming pressure with different control parameters, such as forward speed and ship heading angle, are calculated and discussed. The comparative results indicate that the seakeeping and slamming behaviors of trimarans differ significantly from those of conventional monohull ships. Finally, severe bow slamming and green water in oblique waves are also observed and investigated, which should be given enough attention during ship design and evaluation.