Numerical simulations of viscous flows around surface ship by level set method

Numerical simulations of viscous flows around surface ships by coupling the 3D incompressible RANS equations with level set method are presented in this paper. The finite difference method is used to discretize the RANS equations with turbulent model SST k − ω. The fully nonlinear boundary condition at the free surface is satisfied at each time step and the evolution of the free surface is achieved by using the level set method. The coupled solver is applied to a benchmark case of viscous flows around an advancing Wigley ship with various Froude numbers. The computational results are in excellent agreement with experimental data. The simulations reveal clearly the generation and evolution of bow and stern waves.