A Study on Flooding·Sinking Simulation for Cause Analysis of No. 501 Oryong Sinking Accident

Deep-sea fishing vessel No. 501 Oryong was fully flooded through its openings and sunk to the bottom of the sea due to the very rough sea weather on the way of evasion after a fishing operation in the Bearing Sea. As a result, many crew members died and/or were missing. In this study, a full-scale ship flooding and sinking simulation was conducted, and the sinking process was analyzed for the precise and scientific investigation of the sinking accident using a highly advanced Modeling & Simulation (M&S) system of the Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) analysis technique. To objectively secure the weather and sea states during the sinking accident in the Bering Sea, time-based wind and wave simulation at the region of the sinking accident was conducted and analyzed, and the weather and sea states were realized by simulating the irregular strong wave and wind spectrums. Simulation scenarios were developed and full-scale ship and fluid (air & seawater) modeling was performed for the flooding sinking simulation, by investigating the hull form, structural arrangement & weight distribution, and exterior inflow openings and interior flooding paths through its drawings, and by estimating the main tank capacities and their loading status. It was confirmed that the flooding and sinking accident was slightly different from a general capsize and sinking accident according to the simple loss of stability.