Numerical Prediction of Submarine Hydrodynamic Coefficients using CFD Simulation

The submarine Hydrodynamic coefficients are predicted by numerical simulations. Steady and unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations are carried out to numerically simulate the oblique towing experiment and the Planar Motion Mechanism (PMM) experiment performed on the SUBOFF submarine model. The dynamic mesh method is adopted to simulate the maneuvering motions of pure heaving, pure swaying, pure pitching and pure yawing. The hydrodynamic forces and moments acting on the maneuvering submarine are obtained. Consequently, by analyzing these results, the hydrodynamic coefficients of the submarine maneuvering motions can be determined. The computational results are verified by comparison with experimental data, which show that this method can be used to estimate the hydrodynamic derivatives of a fully appended submarine.