Collaborative CFD Exercise for a Submarine in a Steady Turn

Abstract

The application of viscous-flow solvers to calculate the forces on ship hulls in oblique motion has been studied for a long time. However, only a few researchers have published work in which the flow around ships in steady turns was studied in detail. To predict ship manoeuvres, an accurate prediction of the loads due to rotational motion is also required. In a collaborative CFD exercise, the Submarine Hydrodynamics Working Group (SHWG) performed calculations on the bare hull DARPA SUBOFF submarine to investigate the capability of RANS viscous-flow solvers to predict the flow field around the hull and the forces and moments for several steady turns. In the study, different commercial as well as bespoke flow solvers were used, combined with different turbulence models and grid topologies. The work is part of a larger study aiming to improve the knowledge and understanding of underwater vehicle hydrodynamics. In this paper, the results of the exercise will be presented. For several cases, verification studies are done to estimate the uncertainties in the results. Flow fields predicted by the different members of the SHWG are compared and the influence of the turbulence model will be discussed. Additionally, the computed forces and moments as a function of the drift angle during the steady turns will be validated. It will be demonstrated that using sufficiently fine grids and advanced turbulence models without the use of wall functions will lead to accurate prediction of both the flow field and loads on the hull.