Computational Investigation into Prediction of Lift Force and Resistance of a Hydrofoil Ship

Abstract

The characteristics of the fore and aft foils at the various angles of attack incorporated with forward velocities have been vulnerable to induce strong nonlinearities to dynamic lift force and ship resistance. Then, a computational simulation is necessarily required to predict their performances in the calm water condition. This paper presents a computational investigation of the hydrofoil ship on predicting lift and ship’s resistance using fluid dynamic (CFD) simulation approach. Several parameters such as Froude numbers and the angle of attacks both of fore and aft foils have been accordingly taken into account. The results revealed that the subsequent increase on angle of attack of fore and aft foils was directly proportional to the lift force and the ship’s resistance. In addition, the lift force of the aft and fore foils with the angle of attacks of 10 degrees and 5 degrees, respectively, resulted in the significant increase of the lift force and the ship’s resistance. However, the subsequent increase of Froude number from 1.382 up to 1.626 has insignificant effect to the lift and the ship’s resistance of the hydrofoil. It can be concluded that CFD simulation is very beneficial to ensure an operational effectiveness of hydrofoil design towards prediction on the lift force and the hydrofoil’s resistance at the preliminary design stage.