Numerical Modeling of the Hydrodynamic Performance of Hydrofoils for Auxiliary Propulsion of Ships in Regular Head-Waves

Abstract

In this paper, a detailed hydrodynamic analysis of the thrust generated by an oscillating hydrofoil is presented. The hydrofoil is mounted at the bow of a platform supply vessel as a means of auxiliary propulsion and, is vertically oscillating due to the ship’s heave and pitch motions in head-waves. Firstly, responses of the ship without hydrofoil are obtained using a 3-dimensional frequency-domain panel method. The responses of the ship with hydrofoil are then obtained by taking into account the extra forces and moments due to the presence of the foil. Secondly, three methods are used to calculate the average generated thrust, namely: a quasi-static method, a simplified frequency-domain method and, a dynamic stall method. All three methods are compared and appraised against numerical/experimental data available in the literature, for a similar hull form.