Numerically Investigating the Effect of Trim on the Resistance of a Container Ship in Confined and Shallow Water

Abstract

One of the promising strategies for the improvement of the resistance characteristics and energy efficiency of a ship is trim optimization. Most of the studies conducted so far regarding trim optimization deal with unrestricted water. The effect of trim on the total resistance and its components for the KRISO Container Ship model in confined and shallow water is investigated using computational fluid dynamics. Numerical simulations of resistance tests with and without the free surface effects using two turbulence models are carried out for even keel and four trims in restricted water. A verification study is conducted for the total resistance, sinkage, and trim in terms of grid resolutions and time steps to assess the numerical uncertainty. The numerical results are validated against the experimental ones available in the literature. Performing the double body simulations enabled the analysis of the effect of trim on the resistance components. The numerical results pointed out that by adjusting the trim a reduction in the total resistance in confined and shallow water can be obtained.