Abstract
The course stability performance for tankers is evaluated by computational fluid dynamics. In the present work, a Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) code is applied to a maneuvering problem covering the pure drift and yaw motions. The purposes of this study are to evaluate the hydrodynamic force in the bare hull (AFRAMAX) in pure drift and yaw motion and to provide information about the trends in the forces and moments when the rudder angles are varied. The flow simulation is performed by FLUENT. The CFD code is examined to find the optimistic computational condition such as size of grid, turbulence model and initial condition. The hydrodynamic derivatives in drift and pure yaw motion are estimated by the numerical simulation, and then the stability levers are calculated. It is confirmed that the computations show the superiority and inferiority of course stability performance according to the hull forms. Finally, the CFD code is applied to the estimation of the rudder forces when the rudder angles are varied. The propeller effect expressed by the body force distribution is also included.
