Impact of hard fouling on the ship performance of different ship forms

Abstract

The successful optimization of a maintenance schedule, which represents one of the most important operational measures for the reduction of fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emission, relies on accurate prediction of the impact of cleaning on the ship performance. The impact of cleaning can be considered through the impact of biofouling on ship performance, which is defined with delivered power and propeller rotation rate. In this study, the impact of hard fouling on the ship performance is investigated for three ship types, keeping in mind that ship performance can significantly vary amongst different ship types. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations are carried out for several fouling conditions by employing the roughness function for hard fouling into the wall function of CFD solver. Firstly, the verification study is performed, and the numerical uncertainty is quantified. The validation study is performed for smooth surface condition and, thereafter, the impact of hard fouling on resistance, open water and propulsion characteristics is assessed. The differences in the impact of biofouling on the ship performance are noticed amongst different ship forms. They are mainly influenced by the portion of viscous resistance in the total resistance, relative roughness, roughness Reynolds number and advance coefficient for the self-propulsion point.