A Lagrangian vortex-lattice method for arbitrary bodies interacting with a linearized semi-Lagrangian free surface

A Lagrangian vortex-lattice approach is presented, through which bodies of arbitrary shape, wakes shedding from them, and a free surface can be modeled using sheets of concentrated vorticity. The method accounts for a full interaction of all vortex sheets in the time domain. A damping beach is used on the external boundaries of the free-surface domain. Multiple time-step computations combined with a versatile gridding approach make the current numerical implementation suitable for solving a wide variety of hydrodynamic and low-speed aerodynamic problems. Several examples and comparisons with experimental data are presented. © 2006 - IOS Press.