Recent Application of CFD in Ship Hydrodynamics

The engineering use of CFD is recently extending to the prediction of maneuvering characteristics, response to waves, propeller performance, and so on. The focus of the research is shifting to simulation of more complex processes. Typical examples of such processes are bow or stern slamming, green water problem, propeller cavitation, hull-propeller interaction, or drag reduction by bubble injection. Those processes are characterized by keywords such as high nonlinearity, unsteadiness, multiphase flow. In this paper, two new attempts which have been recently made by the author's research group are presented. One is the prediction of propeller cavitation and its effect to the ship hull. The other is the application to the drag reduction by use of air bubbles.